Another so called “Marikana case” has been uncovered in Limpopo after police officials were found guilty of using live ammunition during a protest near Gamotshane Village in Burgesfort by Acting Judge Katlego Mokwena of High Court Limpopo Division in Polokwane.
A civil trial was held on August 8, 2023 and adjourned until August 10, 2023 following an incident which took place in February 2017 where three learners of Magatabotse Secondary School were accused of practicing witch craft. When providing judgment, Acting Judge Mokwena said police claims they shot in the air or into the ground were not profound as it shows that the victims were shot with live ammunition following a medical report revealed by J88.
The case was opened against the Minister of Police Bheki Cele after two learners were shot with live ammunition by the police during the unrest. The first victim Potso Sebe was shot in his leg and the second plaintiff Boitshepo Mabilu was shot in her arm.
“Another disturbing feature about the police evidence is that they denied having shot the plaintiff but on their own version they would have been justified in doing so. The reluctance clearly shows that they fire into the crowd and this accounts for the probabilities as to how the plaintiffs were shot in the back,” said the judge. “In the result the following order is made; the application for absolution is hereby granted. The conduct of the members of the defendant to shoot and injure the plaintiffs is hereby found to be wrong and unlawful. The defendant is ordered to pay 100% of the plaintiff’s proven or agreed damages…”
Meanwhile, eleven years after the Marikana massacre, voters from the North West community have a disbelief in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration, mining companies and the ANC.
Police shot and killed 34 striking mineworkers and left 78 others seriously injured, on 16 August 2012.
The occurrence remains one of the most ruthless acts of state violence in post-apartheid South Africa.
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