[miningmx.com] – CYRIL Ramaphosa, South Africa deputy president, said he attempted to defuse escalating tensions at Lonmin’s operations before violence broke out at the platinum firm’s Marikana operations.
Ramaphosa was commenting at the Farlam Commission which is investigating the events of massacre of August 16, 2012 when police fired on protesting miners at Marikana killing 35. Ramaphosa was a non-executive of Lonmin at the time.
“With this grave situation that was unfolding at the mine, I felt obligated to intervene and communicate with the management at the mine to try and get the situation not to escalate,’ Bloomberg News quoted Ramaphosa to have said at the commission.
Ramaphosa sent an e-mail to Lonmin executive management in which he said that violence perpetrated during the protests, ostensibly about wages, was “dastardly criminal” and that “In line with this characterisation there needs to be concomitant action to address this situation”.
“I was focusing on the prevention of the further loss of life and the injury of people,” said Ramaphosa.
“When I said those responsible for the violence should be brought to book, I anticipated that the police would investigate and ensure the right people were arrested,’ he said.
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