Hon Speaker, hon Deputy President, Ministers and members of the House, on Thursday 16 August 2012 South Africa was confronted by the images of the police and striking mineworkers in a bloody confrontation and was staggered by shock and sadness; a sadness further compounded by the news that 34 mineworkers were killed and 78 injured, bringing the total loss of life since the strike began to 44. This number also includes the two police officers who were killed.
Today we gather here to mourn all those deaths - the mineworkers, the police, the National Union of Mineworkers, NUM, shop stewards and mine security members. We want to convey our sincerest condolences to the families and loved ones of the deceased. We wish those who are still in hospital a speedy recovery.
Indeed, the country is in mourning. In a democratic South Africa, images of this nature are not the ones we would want and expect to see on our screens and broadcast throughout the world. In a democratic South Africa, there are mechanisms that were put in place to prevent such events from happening.
This is not the time for finger-pointing and for scoring political points written in the blood of those that lost their lives, as some are trying to do here today. It is a time when, as a nation, we need to seek the answers together. In this House, across party-political lines, we have a joint responsibility to ensure that we address shortcomings where they exist. Nobody can leave this situation without properly examining the reasons that led up to this tragic event. As a nation, we need to draw lessons from this tragedy. Collectively, as a nation, we must ensure that we never again witness such senseless loss of life.
We welcome the judicial commission of inquiry that was announced by the President. As a nation, we need the commission to provide us with the answers and an understanding of what exactly led to this situation. We need to fully understand what happened and why it happened. We would humbly request the President to ensure that the commission not only looks at what happened on the day, but also goes back in time to determine how we got into a situation so bad that the intervention of the SAPS was needed.
The commission needs to provide us with the answers to the difficult questions we are currently struggling with as a nation. Not only must the commission determine whether anybody should be held accountable for the loss of lives, but it should in fact assist us in determining why the democratic mechanisms that are in place to deal with issues like these did not work in this instance.
It is clear that this was not a normal protest. The underlying reasons why it was not a normal protest need to be established. If this becomes only about the police and their actions on that day, like some here today are trying to make it, it would be wrong and negligent. Yes, the commission needs to determine whether the SAPS acted within the confines of the law and whether they were justified in using deadly force. But we cannot and should not look at this in a one-dimensional manner. We need to look at all aspects.
It is about much more than just what happened on that day. We must remind ourselves that prior to that day, 10 people, including 2 police officers, security staff of the mine and the NUM shop stewards, were killed in the most brutal manner possible. We must determine whether enticement to violence took place. We need to find and bring to book those who were responsible for the death of others at the mine. The commission will have to direct us in such a way that we can learn from this tragedy, so that we never again, as a nation, see a repetition of what happened on that tragic Thursday.
We all need to give the judicial commission of inquiry the opportunity and the space to do its work and not prejudge its outcomes, as we saw here today. All parties involved should co-operate with the commission and provide the commission with evidence and information. We call on all media houses that have footage to submit it to the commission. The trade unions have already pledged their co-operation in the work of the commission and we are expecting the same from all role-players, including the South African Police Service, the mine management and any other body that might be called to provide information and evidence.
Once the commission's report is made public, as Parliament we will also have the responsibility to scrutinise that report. As portfolio committees, where it speaks about relevant departments and entities, we will have to engage in proper oversight on those aspects. As a Portfolio Committee on Police, we engaged with the SAPS on public order policing at the end of last year. We will do so again, at the opportune time.
We need to acknowledge that the increasingly violent nature of some of the protests throughout the country that the SAPS are confronted with, raises certain concerns. Amongst those concerns are whether we have enough SAPS officers adequately trained in public order policing, dealing with violent situations, as we have seen them.
Given the increasingly violent nature of some of these protests, is the equipment that they are currently using adequate, and can it stand up to the test? Is there enough equipment? Are there clear national instructions around public order policing? In the light of the violent nature of such protests, how do we deploy SAPS members throughout these incidents? There are also many other questions. Similarly, I am sure that other portfolio committees will have other issues that they want to interrogate; issues that can prevent situations like these from reoccurring.
Maybe this is a good time to remind Members of Parliament that six years ago in this Parliament we had a debate, following public hearings, on the conditions and wages of mineworkers. On that occasion, Parliament agreed to appoint a commission to further investigate the matter. Now, six years later, where do we stand in terms of the decision that was taken? We also need to do our oversight.
The investigation of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, Ipid, is also supported. The Ipid is legally obliged to investigate all deaths as a result of police action, in terms of section 28 of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate. According to the directorate, this investigation will seek to determine whether or not the action taken by the police was proportionate to the threat posed by the striking miners.
As part of its oversight function, the portfolio committee will keep a close eye on this investigation and will receive a report on the outcome of the investigation, on its completion. We welcome the interministerial committee that was sent to Marikana by the President. We welcome the work that they are doing there and the role they are fulfilling on the ground in providing assistance to the families of the deceased.
We would like to ask the Minister of Police to ensure that trauma counselling and support are also given to the police members who were involved in the shooting. Let us not forget, like so many of us here today do, that they are human beings as well, and that the tragedy had a traumatic impact on them. We need to address that trauma through professional assistance.
This day and this debate will most probably go down in history as the one day where the media dealt with the issue before us in a more responsible manner than some members of this Parliament. Hon Lekota, maybe it is because the media was there as the situation developed. Hon Lekota, water cannons, teargas and rubber bullets were used. Why don't you wait for the commission of inquiry to conduct its work? Why is it that somebody who knows so much about this situation does not know what was said in the briefing and what was done before they started using live ammunition? It is the same hon Lekota who was quiet when his political allies in the Western Cape called for the South African Defence Force to be deployed in our residential areas on the Cape Flats. [Applause.]
Hon Ndlovu, you have touched on some of the important issues that need to be looked at by the commission. It is also important to remind you that just last week, in this House, the hon Ambrosini effectively called for labour unions to be crushed.
One thing that we can always do in this House is to rely on the hon Kohler- Barnard to try and score - I can't say cheap political points because at this stage they come at the cost of lives - political points, even on a solemn occasion like today.
On the one hand, they call for a commission of inquiry; they say it is a judicial commission of inquiry. They say we must wait for the outcome, but today in this House they have played investigator, pathologist, judge and executioner. [Applause.] It is sad that the bloodhound of the DA could not find five seconds in her speech to convey condolences to those people who lost their lives. [Interjections.]