- Two police officers testified in the Marikana trial this week.
- Footage from the SABC was played during the trial.
- It is expected to continue for three weeks until 28 May.
Warrant Officer Daniel Pieter Kuhn concluded his testimony on Thursday in the Marikana trial taking place in the North West High Court in Mahikeng.
Kuhn was testifying in the murder trial of former North West deputy police commissioner William Mpembe.
His testimony followed that of Lieutenant-Colonel Jeremiah Mohlaki on Tuesday.
Mpembe is on trial alongside former colleagues retired Colonel Salmon Vermaak and Constable Nkosana Mguye as well as warrant officers Collin Mogale, Joseph Sekgwetla and Khazamola Makhubela before Judge Tebogo Djadje.
The two officers testified about what happened on 13 August 2012, three days before the infamous Marikana massacre.
Five lives were lost on that day after chaos erupted at the Lonmin K3 shaft.
Mineworkers Semi Jokansi, Phumzile Sokhanyile and Thembelakhe Mati as well as police officers Hendrick Monene and Sello Lepaaku were killed.
The State argued police officers had indiscriminately fired at fleeing miners on that day.
Mohlaki was a captain attached to the Phokeng Crime Scene Investigating Unit in 2012, provincial National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Henry Mamothane told News24.
He was instructed to deliver exhibits collected from the scene to a forensic lab in Pretoria, Mamothane said.
Meanwhile, Kuhn's testimony focused on events that resulted in Monene and Jokansi being killed.
Public Order Policing support
He told the court he and his team were from Public Order Policing (POP) in Springs on the East Rand in Gauteng.
He said they were dispatched to support Rustenburg's POP.
Vermaak's lawyer, advocate Kobus Burger, questioned the officer on two statements signed by him that had various omissions.
IPID officers had written up the statements and asked him to sign them, the court heard.
Burger said:
Among the omissions was the fact that Vermaak had previously said in another statement he was issued with a shotgun and stun grenades in Rustenburg.
Information that a dead suspect was found next to a dead police officer was also omitted.
Burger quizzed Kuhn about whether he was briefed about what was happening in Marikana before his deployment to the area.
Kuhn replied he and his team were not briefed when they were sent to support Rustenburg POP, saying the only information he had about what was happening he had seen on television.
First tear gas canister fired
Earlier, during cross-examination by Mpembe's lawyer, Jan Ellis, Kuhn told the court he had fired the first tear gas canister on that day.
He said the crowd was heading towards an informal settlement, and the situation was tense, resulting in shots being fired.
Kuhn added the order was given that tear gas should be fired when the crowd got out of hand.
But he could not tell the court who exactly gave the order.
On Wednesday, Kuhn told the court they were under the command of their section leader, "Captain Tulo", but on Thursday, Ellis revealed a document stating the order was given by another senior officer, and not "Captain Tulo".
Kuhn said a senior officer within POP was the only one to give an order for tear gas to be fired.
He added the mineworkers had attacked police officers with pangas and spears.
The trial is expected to continue until 28 May.
*Read more about Pieter Daniel Kuhn's testimony on the News24 subscription service on Friday morning.