Kimberley – While images and sound bites of the Economic Freedom Fighters’ (EFF) demand to President Jacob Zuma to “pay back the money” have gone viral, the catchy phrase has now also become the theme of a national campaign.

EFF MPL’s, led by “Commander in Chief” Julius Malema, caused drama in the National Assembly about two weeks ago when they broke into song and started chanting “pay back the money” after asking Zuma when he would be paying back the money spent on upgrading his private Nkandla home. The outburst prompted a shouting match with the National Assembly Speaker, Baleka Mbete.
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Kimberley – Northern Cape Premier, Sylvia Lucas, on Thursday made it clear that “this government is not at war with its people we will not involve the army in our work to resolve the crisis in the Kuruman area”.

Lucas was responding to a call by the DA in the province that the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) be deployed to the troubled villages around Kuruman, where more than 50 schools have been closed since June due to an ongoing community protest over a demand for roads in the area.
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Kimberley – Hundreds of men have set up their own diamond “mine” next to the road to Boshof after they were apparently kicked out of a neighbouring De Beers mining site just outside the city.

The men on Thursday claimed that they had been “legally” digging for diamonds at the De Beers site, between Samaria Road and the Kimberley Caravan Park, for more than two years, until a dispute over payment closed the site leaving them without any source of income and forcing them to embark on illegal activities outside the site.
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Johannesburg – A video shown at the Farlam Commission of Inquiry appears to disprove the police version of events ahead of the fatal shootings in Marikana, The Times reported on Friday.

The police claimed that the miners had attacked them and that they had used non-lethal force before resorting to live ammunition at “scene one”, a cattle kraal near the Nkaneng informal settlement.

The video was commissioned by the SA Human Rights Commission.
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Pretoria – More should have been done to encourage dialogue in the days before the August 2012 Marikana shootings, the Farlam Commission of Inquiry heard on Friday.

“I know of a number of people who endeavoured to try and do so (avoid the fatal confrontation between police and strikers). I think the last person in that line was Bishop Jo Seoka,” international law enforcement expert Cees de Rover told the inquiry in Pretoria.

“I am particularly looking at the 13th and 14th (August 2012) because those were days of relative calm. That’s a missed chance of attempts at getting constructive dialogue going.

The Anglican Bishop of Pretoria was one of the religious leaders who mediated in talks between striking miners and Lonmin mine management.

The inquiry, chaired by retired judge Ian Farlam, is investigating the deaths of 44 people during a violent wage strike at Lonmin’s platinum mining operations at Marikana, near Rustenburg, North West, two years ago.

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 August 16, 2012. Police were apparently trying to disarm and disperse them.

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

On Friday, De Rover said in his experience, without constant dialogue, engagements tended to turn confrontational.

“I have worked long with the United Nations, the core principle in any relationship is to try and maintain constructive dialogue,” he said.

It was problematic that the South African community seemingly accepted the high crime levels and violence, said De Rover, who started off his career in the Dutch police force in 1980.

“I have been in your country for one and a half years and the last time I went home it took me a week to get back to normality. (To understand that) I don’t have to lock my doors, that it’s all right to leave the keys in my car.

There were 1.2 million registered private security officers in the country.

“That’s a demonstration of how safe your country is and an indication of how well your law enforcement is doing. They (private security) charge you for a service the police should give for free,” said De Rover.

Different sectors of society, including “people in government and individuals on the street” could have foreseen the possibility of catastrophe when images of “armed people outraged” were shown in the media in the days leading up to August 16, 2012, he said.

De Rover has submitted expert analysis of the Marikana shootings on behalf of the SA Police Service.

His resume indicates that he has “over 25 years experience in policing and international developments”.

He has worked with police forces in more than 60 countries.

In his analysis, he described himself as an independent expert and said his opinions were based on international legal standards which applied to law enforcement.

Sapa