Johannesburg - Amnesty International South Africa Executive Director Shenilla Mohamed says there needs to be answers as to why it is taking 11 years in the case of the Marikana Massacre for any prosecutions and ultimately accountability for the brutal loss of life.
Mohamed said the lack of accountability for victims and their families is a recurring theme in South Africa.
A statement from Amnesty International said that while some officers are facing charges for the events that took place before August 16, 2012, no police officer has been charged for the killing of 34 mine workers on that fateful day.
‘’Amnesty International South Africa wrote to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in the North West, asking for answers as to why there have been no prosecutions, 11 years after the massacre.’’
‘’The Ipid told Amnesty International South Africa that in relation to the shooting on August 16, at what is known as Scenes 1 and 2, the role of every single member of the police that was deployed in Marikana on the date in question was being investigated. Ipid said these were more or less 600 police officers. It said the cases had now been transferred to the North West Director of Public Prosecutions for further handling,’’ read the statement.
‘’We made it clear to Ipid and the NPA that waiting 11 years for accountability was unacceptable. The excuse that investigations were stopped until 2016 is also not a good enough excuse; it still means that there have been seven years with no prosecutions and no accountability,’’ said Mohamed.
She further said that the victims and their families could not be made to wait another year, never mind another 11 years, for justice.
‘’This will just result in a continued lack of accountability for the unlawful killings by police,’’ added Mohamed.
The Star