S,Africa slams 'defective 'police operation that led to massacre

JOHANNESBURG,
A 2012 South African police operation that
left 34 Marikana mine workers dead should
not have taken place "along awaited report
said  Thursday,calling on the officers involved
to face criminal investigation.

Presenting the findings of a commission of
inquiry ,President Jacob Zuma described the
shooting ,the worst violence in South Africa
since the end of apartheid, as a "horrendous
tragedy that has no place in a democracy",

"The commission found that the police operatin
should not have taken place on the 16th
August because of the defect in the plan"
said Zuma in a public broadcast.

He said the commission recommended "a
full investigation under the direction of the
director of public prosecutions..with a view
to ascertaining criminal liability on the part
of all members of the South African Police
Service who were involved in the incidents"

On August 16 2012 after days of violent
protests at Lonmin plantinum mine north
west of Johannesburg,police opened fire on
a group of demonstrating workers,killing
34 people,

In the days leading  to the attack 10 others
had been killed in violence related to the strike
,including non-striking miners security guards
and two polices officers who were hacked to
death,

But the commission found a police operation
to forcefully remove the miners,a few of
whom were armed,should not have been
carried out,


"It would have been impossible to disarm
and disperse the strikers without significant
blooshed "Zuma cited the report as saying
AFP