The commission of inquiry’s 646-page report, released by President Jacob Zuma on Thursday, ordered a probe regarding Phiyega’s fitness to hold office while clearing Cabinet ministers of responsibility for the worst loss of life in a single post-apartheid police operation.
It noted that after the August 16, 2012, shooting, an initial police report was sent to Zuma as he was in Mozambique, as well as to the minister of international relations. This report made it clear that 16 miners were shot on the hill in Marikana where police surrounded them, and 15 more as police pursued miners into a nearby field. Later, more succumbed to gunshot wounds suffered at both scenes, raising the death toll.
