Dylan Bettencourt
The Johannesburg High Court has ruled that the surviving Marikana mine workers can seek compensation from President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The court ruled that a case could be made against Ramaphosa that he “participated in, masterminded and championed the toxic collusion” between mine management and the police.
The ruling from the High Court allows the 349 surviving Marikana workers to hold Ramaphosa liable for their injuries during the 2012 clash.
The Lonmin mine workers applied to court for compensation for the damages caused during the massacre that killed 34 workers almost 10 years ago.
The workers are demanding R1 billion in damages.
Ramaphosa raised eight grounds of exceptions with Judge Frits van Oosten upholding four of those and rejecting one.
The judge could not reject that the South African president took part in the conversations during the protest that ultimately led to the deaths of the striking workers.
While the court ruling could not hold any party responsible for the deaths, it did find that Ramaphosa, Lonmin and the police were complicit in the events leading up to the deaths.
The mine workers’ lawyer, Andries Nkome, said Ramaphosa is to blame for the deaths of the workers, adding that he could no longer withstand the economic loss due to the strikes.
“The money is not that important. What is important is for the president to apologise and the workers might review their position,” Nkome said.
The remainder of Ramaphosa’s exceptions along with the rest of the court proceedings were postponed to a later date.
The presidency is yet to comment on the ruling.
The South African president has recently been accused of laundering money during a robbery of his Phala Phala game farm in Limpopo.
Image source: @CNN
