Johannesburg – The Farlam Commission of Inquiry is expected to continue in Pretoria on Monday

At the commission’s previous sitting on Friday, factors influencing the level of force used by the police during the Marikana shootings came under the spotlight.

Police lawyer, Ishmael Semenya SC, cross-examined international public order policing expert Gary White, who has criticised the police’s Marikana intervention.

“Mr White, if we are able to establish that this group of 300 or 400 sharp instrument wielding people was attacking the police, I want to suggest that it is a threat that could be contained through non-lethal force,” said Semenya.

White said the police’s response to the crowd would be determined by a number of circumstances.

The inquiry is investigating the deaths of 44 people during strike-related violence at Lonmin’s platinum mining operations at Marikana, near Rustenburg in the North West.

Thirty-four people, mostly striking mineworkers, were shot dead in a clash with the police, more than 70 were wounded, and 250 were arrested on 16 August 2012. Police were apparently trying to disarm and disperse them.

In the preceding week, 10 people, including two policemen and two security guards, were killed.
SAPA