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Pretoria - It was irrational for Lonmin [JSE:LON] mine management to visit the hill where thousands of striking miners were gathered in Marikana in August 2012, the Farlam Commission of Inquiry heard on Wednesday.
"Sending an executive or a manager in a [police] Nyala, speaking on a loudhailer to 3 000 angry people sitting on a koppie [hill]. He can't put his head out because it is dangerous," said Lonmin executive Michael da Costa.
"That whole situation is just not conducive to get into any kind of agreement. That, put together with the risk of sending somebody to the koppie, doesn't make a lot of sense to me."
Da Costa was being cross-examined by Ishmael Semenya, SC, for the police, at the inquiry's public hearings in Pretoria.
See how the hearing unfolded
Semenya said the SA Police Service offered to accompany the Lonmin executives in an armoured vehicle to the hill where the mineworkers were gathered in August 2012.
He said the only request by the protesters on the hill was to speak to mine management.
Da Costa said he knew that the miners were demanding R12 500. He said he was informed the miners wanted the management to visit the hill to discuss the R12 500.
He said Lonmin was not willing to accede to the demand of sending management to the hill.
The inquiry, chaired by retired judge Ian Farlam, is investigating the deaths of 44 people during strike-related violence at Lonmin's mining operations in Marikana in August 2012.
A bloody massacre
Thirty-four people, mostly striking Lonmin mineworkers, were shot dead in a clash with police, over 70 were wounded, and another 250 arrested on August 16 2012. Police were apparently trying to disarm and disperse them.
Another 10 people, including two policemen and two security guards, were killed in the preceding week.
In June, Da Costa told the commission Lonmin had "fallen behind" Impala Platinum in wages paid to rock drill operators in the months leading up to the violent 2012 confrontation at Marikana.
In June 2012, about 300 miners approached Da Costa, who was manager of Lonmin's Karee mine, and their representatives told him they wanted a basic salary of R12 500 for Karee's rock drill operators.
"I pointed out that the increase was extremely high and unaffordable. They thought it was the number that would reward them for the work they do. They said it was a good number," Da Costa said at the time.
