Staff Reporter.
Judge Colin Lamont has recused himself from the Marikana massacre civil case.
An application was launched for Lamont’s recusal after he disclosed that he had shares in Lonmin.
The events include the killing of 34 miners by police on 16 August 2012.
More than 300 people affected in Marikana are taking President Cyril Ramaphosa to court for his role in the events of the massarce. At the time, Ramaphosa was a non-executive director of Lonmin.
Advocate Dali Mpofu is representing the 328 affected Marikana families.
Judge Lamont told Adv Mpofu that the shares were acquired after the “so-called massacre” on advice from his financial broker.
“There’s no difference between yourself and [Cyril] Ramaphosa because he also disposed of his shares after the massacre,” said Mpofu. “But he is in a better position because he acquired them before. So if they [the applicants] have suspicion about Ramaphosa, can you imagine how they feel about you?”
Mpofu, who is representing people affected by the events that unfolded in August 2012 at Marikana, was speaking to Judge Lamont, who disclosed his shares in the lawsuit respondent, Sibanye Stillwater, two days before the first hearing into the R1-billion suit against Ramaphosa and Sibanye, formerly Lonmin Plc.
Mpofu told the high court sitting in Johannesburg that the application for recusal has been brought on the grounds of a perceived apprehension for bias by the applicants and not an actual bias.
He said Lamont disclosed and sold his R200 000 shares 20 days after he became aware that he would adjudicate the case, a move that has “flabbergasted” the applicant.
Mpofu said he accepted that the shares purchase “anti-dates” the allocation of the case but that was “precisely” the problem. He said “shareholding” in this particular matter was central to the circumstances of the case.
“Even if you had one share in that company, in law it is still your company and you cannot adjudicate your murderess or non-murderess company,” Mpofu said.
Ramaphosa, he said, was a non-executive director at Lonmin in 2012 when he emailed the mine to call for “concomitant action” against the miners, who he referred to as “criminals”.
“The minister of minerals went on radio that this was a labour matter and it should be resolved by negotiations.
Ramaphosa went on to say, ‘this can’t go on, she can’t say this is a labour matter. I have just had a discussion with Susan Shabangu. She has agreed that this is a criminal act and will call it as such. They are plainly just criminal acts and in line with such a characterisation there must be concomitant action’, said Mpofu, quoting the emails Ramaphosa had sent the mine.
Mpofu said that a day after Ramaphosa sent the email, 34 mineworkers were gunned down in Marikana, in the North West. Dozens of others were wounded and about 280 workers were arrested. He said that while R200 000 shares may seem insignificant to Lamont, the case involves applicants who were earning as little as R4 000 and died asking for R12 000.