Judge Mogoeng Mogoeng announced that the court had dismissed the application for the state to cover the legal costs of the Marikana mineworkers wounded and arrested last year. (Flickr)
After postponing Friday's judgment to the start of this week, Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng on Monday morning announced that the court dismissed the application for the state to cover the legal costs of the Marikana mineworkers wounded and arrested last year.
Friday marked the commemoration of the day, on which 44 people were killed during strike-related unrest at Lonmin's platinum mine in Marikana last year.
Police shot dead 34 striking mineworkers. Ten people, including two police officers, were killed in the preceding week.
The legal costs relate to the Farlam commission of inquiry, which is investigating the massacre.
Advocate Dali Mpofu, representing the Marikana mineworkers wounded and arrested last year, announced on July 15 the decision to withdraw from the commission, pending a North Gauteng High Court ruling on his application for the state to fund the legal team.
"Our instructions [from the mineworkers] are to await the judgment and at that point to receive further instructions. In the meantime, we will not be participating for the victims," he said at the time.
"If we are back later on in the week, we will have the extra burden of catching up with what would have happened [at the commission]. We have been consulting with a small delegation of the victims now. We are still going to consult with the larger groups."
Funding for representing the mineworkers
On June 21 Mpofu told the commission that, due to financial constraints, it could be his last day representing the miners.
He then brought the urgent court application seeking funding for representing the mineworkers. – Additional reporting by Sapa