On the morning of the Marikana massacre on 16 August 2012, the then North West police commissioner Lieutenant-General Zukiswa Mbombo did not mince her words.
“Today is D-Day. We are ending this today. Don’t ask me how, but today we are ending this.”
Later that Thursday, 34 striking Lonmin mineworkers were dead and 78 miners were wounded, as emerged at the Marikana Commission of Inquiry, and also in accounts like Greg Marinovich’s
Murder at Small Koppie:
The Real Story of the Marikana Massacre.
Around that time, in an important signifier of shifting official attitudes, the government’s language increasingly turned to “law and order” and respecting “the authority of the state”, rather than providing safety and security to people and communities.
4 cops arrested in connection with Mthokozisi Ntumba s death
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Four police officers arrested for the killing of Mthokozisi Ntumba
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Four police officers arrested and charged for Mthokozisi Ntumba s killing
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Outrage over death of âinnocent bystanderâ at student protest
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Johannesburg - South African President Cyril Ramaphosa led the chorus of outrage from the countryâs politicians following the death of a government employee during a student protest outside the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) on March 10.
The man died as students and police clashed in Braamfontein, Johannesburg.
âMthokozisi Ntumba was an innocent bystander and, indeed, even the students, much as they were protesting, the way I saw it on television, did not warrant the type of resistance and push from the police,â said Ramaphosa.
Ramaphosa said he had asked the Wits University Council and its management as well as the relevant law enforcement authoritiesâ agencies to provide an explanation on what caused this tragedy, and to take whatever steps needed to ensure justice was done.