Johannesburg – Public hearings of the Farlam Commission of Inquiry into the Marikana shootings have been postponed, the commission said on Monday.

“The possible funding of the legal team representing the injured and the arrested miners has not been finally determined. A decision is expected by the end of the week,” it said.

The hearings would now resume next Monday.

The commission is investigating the deaths of 44 people during strike-related unrest in Marikana last year.

Police shot dead 34 striking mineworkers on 16 August.

Ten people, including two police officers, were killed in the preceding week.

On Wednesday, the commission heard that it was not clear whether lawyers at the commission would get interim funding from an unnamed foundation.

The commission’s chairperson, retired Judge Ian Farlam, said at the time he “may have been too optimistic in thinking they would have received a decision by now”.

Dali Mpofu, representing the mineworkers wounded and arrested at Marikana, wanted the funding for his legal team.

He intended filing papers with the Constitutional Court for a ruling on whether the State should fund their work at the commission.

He made a similar request in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria earlier this month, but it was dismissed.

– SAPA