JULIUS Malema’s newly formed Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) on Friday lambasted the decision by the North Gauteng High Court to dismiss an application for legal support by 270 mineworkers arrested and injured last year at Marikana, calling it a "pure rape of justice by the South African government". The mineworkers had approached the court to compel the minister of justice and reconciliation and Legal Aid South Africa to provide them with legal aid on the same basis as that provided to state parties involved in the Marikana commission of inquiry. The EFF said the courts had a responsibility to order the government to direct its resources to the commission in pursuit of justice. "Without equal legal support (for all parties involved), the Marikana commission turns into nothing but a pure rape of justice by the South African government, which basically denies mineworkers fair legal representation by refusing their lawyers funding," read the EFF’s statement. The court dismissed the application on Thursday, casting uncertainty on the future of the Marikana commission. Earlier in the week, Dali Mpofu, representing the arrested and injured miners, had told the commission that his legal team had been instructed to withdraw pending the outcome of the court application. Legal teams representing the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, the families of the deceased and the Bench Marks Foundation, which monitors corporate social responsibility, also provisionally withdrew from the commission pending the judgment. The miners are now expected to halt the commission’s work next week as they approach the Constitutional Court to seek relief. The EFF also said it would collaborate with workers to pursue other options outside the commission to seek justice. "In collaboration with Marikana workers, we will give proper guidance on what should be done to attain justice for the slain mineworkers, because the commission of inquiry will not achieve anything meaningful," it said. The EFF’s support for the miners follows other criticism of Judge Joseph Raulinga’s decision. Legal expert Pierre de Vos said the ruling defeated the purpose of the Marikana probe unless a compromise could be reached. "The credibility of the commission is under threat," he said. "It will be difficult for it to be perceived as credible by the affected parties. The court is not the best route; the best way is for a compromise to be reached. Provide some kind of funding so that they (the mineworkers) can come back and continue." In their court application, the workers argued that the government had refused to assume responsibility for the legal costs associated with the presentation of evidence for those injured and arrested during the Marikana tragedy on August 16, when police fired at striking workers, killing 34. Another analyst, University of the Witwatersrand law professor Herbert Kawadza, said the delays in the commission’s work meant it was becoming a burden on the taxpayer, and the withdrawals this week were problematic. "The underlying fact is that justice delayed is justice denied. With the withdrawals it means delays, and that is justice denied. It is expensive; the whole credibility (of the commission) is put in doubt," he said.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Jul 2013 00:17:20 +0000