North West Deputy Police Commissioner William Mpembe will continue to testify before the Marikana Commission in Centurion, south of Pretoria, on Tuesday.

Mpembe is testifying about how the police implemented their operational plan on August 16, the day the 34 mineworkers were shot and killed by the police during unrest in Marikana. This is Mpembe’s second day testifying.

Mpembe has told the commission that a day before the mineworkers were killed he requested leaders of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) and National Union of Mineworkers (Num) together with Lonmin management to attend a meeting at Lonmin offices.

Both union presidents attended, but according to Mpembe a delegation of about 10 other people attended, and refused to identify them on record.

Mpembe is expected to explain the strategies the police came with to find a peaceful solution. The plan included three phases entailing the dispersion of the protesters into smaller groups, encircling and disarming them.

The operation was scheduled to start at around 15h30 that day.
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