By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Solicitor-general Fhedzisani Pandelani says the litigation between the state and victims of the Marikana massacre will be finalised by the end of the month.
Pandelani was commenting during a progress report on Wednesday at the Ronnie Mamoepa Media Centre in Pretoria.
On 16 August 2012, 34 striking mineworkers died and 78 others sustained injuries in clashes with police at the Lonmin mine in Marikana. Days earlier, 10 people, including two police officers, died in other incidents at the mine.
Providing an update on the progress made regarding Marikana related litigation, Pandelani said 48 matters are currently before court which deal with personal injuries where people had to be sent for medical examination and actuarial calculations.
“As we undertook in 2021, our resolve has been that we need to deal with all the remaining matters pertaining to litigation arising from the Marikana incident. As I stand here today, there were 48 matters that were remaining. None of those matters related to loss of support due to the death of any other person that has preferred a claim against the State because all those other matters have been dealt with as at August 2021,” Pandelani said.
He said half of the 48 matters have already been settled, while the other matters are still under discussion between the parties, which include representatives of the State and claimants.
“It is regrettable that we still talk about matters that happened 10 years ago. I have given a directive to the Office of the State Attorney that all of these matters must be finalised. We could be in a position to see all those matters finalised this month,” Pandelani said.
He expressed regret that the matters had taken some time to settle.
“This is owing to a number of factors… There was never any policy applicable within the State, which compel it to embark on early settlement on any matters via mediation or arbitration.
“Delays that have been occasioned in these matters will be a thing of the past because the office of the Solicitor-General has developed a policy that is binding within State departments for early settlement of matters and that policy was approved by Cabinet in November last year,” Pandelani said.
He said policies have been developed that will address the delays that are inherent when dealing with matters of the State, which also includes a policy that deals with coordination and management of all litigation.
When asked whether President Cyril Ramaphosa is involved in any of the ongoing 48 cases or cases that have been settled, Phandelani said꞉ “The matters we are dealing with do not cover the matters which were preferred against the president in his personal capacity. I do not have a mandate to venture into that space.”
“We are dealing with matters where the state in its formation has been cited. The NPA [National Prosecuting Authority], justice department and SAPS were cited as organs of state or state departments. These are the matters we are seized with. We are not seized with matters of a personal nature. None of the matters have the president cited.”
Ramaphosa has been accused by mineworkers’ union and the public for having played a role in the massacre ten years ago when he was a non-executive director of Lonmin.