'Miners ate body parts for courage'

A WITNESS in the Marikana Commission of Inquiry yesterday provided shocking details of how mineworkers had allegedly killed security guards and then eaten their body parts in a muti ritual.

The witness, known only as Mr X, said they had sought the services of a traditional healer who performed a ritual in which muti, mixed with burnt human flesh, was consumed by miners to make them brave and invincible.

He said they had killed two Lonmin security guards at a bus stop, and cut body parts off one. The parts were then mixed with muti before being eaten. "The muti was to make us brave, to keep us going and not to be scared of danger."

The muti was also put in bottles, and tied with red and yellow ropes around a tree trunk.

Mr X said he had participated in killings, intimidation and destruction of property to push for a strike for higher wages by miners in August 2012.

Mr X, whose real name cannot be revealed to protect his identity, testified via a video link before the commission in Centurion, near Pretoria, for the first time yesterday.

Led by the SA Police Service legal representative Advocate Frank Mothibedi, Mr X, a rock-drill operator, said he was one of five men who had been elected by colleagues to lead the strike.

He said that at a meeting between August 5 and 6, when the strike was being planned, they had appointed a man identified only as Bhele to lead them.

They were preparing to meet Lonmin management without the National Union of Mineworkers, a recognised union they had turned against at the time.

Appearing nervous when he started testifying, Mr X gained composure as he proceeded, laying bare the details of how the strike had started and at what point it had spiralled out of control. He said following a meeting held at Wonderkop on August 10 2012, workers took an impromptu decision to embark on a strike.

This, he said, was after a man representing Lonmin had told them that the strike was illegal and action would be taken against those who participated in it . Mr X said Bhele told the "white man" (a company representative) that he was turning them into "popeyes" (funny little characters).

"Management had said it would take action against those who did not go to work. Bhele then said, 'We are taking the decision now, we are closing the night shift. There is not going to be a night shift from tonight [August 10 2012]'," Mr X said.

Mr X said they had agreed in the meetings that followed that they would intimidate those who would be going to work. The mineworkers had gone on strike to demand entry-level pay of R12500.

He said the strikers were angered when those who did not participate in the action were transported to mines.

A decision was taken that strikers who did not have weapons should buy them as they planned to launch attacks. - Vusi Xaba