Freshly unveiled mobile phone footage, submitted by a South African police officer, could change the outcome of an investigation launched to judge the credibility of police strategy during the fatal Marikana protests in last year.
“The video footage has been handed over to the commission out of free will by the SA Police service and studied on 21 November 2012,” Ian Farlam, Commission Chairman, said, reported by Die Burger today, January 29.
The latest revealed footage was only discovered yesterday, January 28, as screened on British Channel 4.
Despite the clear evidence, Farlam announced yesterday in the Rustenburg court (South Africa) “it is too early to make assumptions”.
He added that no party from either the police or others involved has testified in court concerning the video clip.
The clip shows how two policemen aim at a running victim, who is then shot despite a warning from one of the fellow officers.
The body, wounded by 12 gunshots, was later identified as a 26-year-old man.
“The (police) video is filmed a few hundred metres from the media, outside the face field of the camera men –on the place where the most mine workers were killed,” Inigo Gilmore, a journalist who reported from the Marikana protest scene, said.
Rustenburg investigations will continue to determine the final outcome of the case.
The brutal deaths of 34 protesters and injuries to 78 occurred following an outbreak of violence between police officers and striking South African miners at Marikana, near Rustenburg.
While the initial released photographs and footage sent shockwaves through the country, reminding citizens of police shootings during the era of Apartheid, police have stood their ground and said that the defensive reaction was evoked by life-threatening crowd behaviour.
Protests raged between August and September 2012 as mine workers insisted on higher payments of R12,500 (US$ 1379) per month.
