“Our instructions from the mineworkers are to await the judgment and at that point to receive further instructions. In the meantime, we will not be participating for the victims,” he said.
“If we are back later on in the week, we will have the extra burden of catching up with what would have happened [at the commission].”
On June 21, Mpofu told the commission that, due to financial constraints, it could be his last day representing the miners. He then brought the urgent court application seeking funding for representing the mineworkers.
Mpofu wants President Jacob Zuma and Justice Minister Jeff Radebe to approve payment for the mineworkers’ legal team.
The commission is investigating the circumstances surrounding the deaths of 44 mineworkers in strike-related violence in Marikana in August.
On Monday, Mpofu promised that he would update the commission about his team’s decision, based on the court outcome.
“Irrespective of the outcome, as professionals, we have a duty to come here and brief the commission. We are not going to just disappear,” he said.
Othe legal representatives have provisionally, pulled out of the inquiry.
Nicole Lewis, who represents the families at the commission, announced after a lunch adjournment that the families were acting in solidarity with the group of mineworkers who were wounded and arrested on August 16.
“The family members have given instructions for us to place on record. They feel very uncomfortable participating as long as the miners who were injured and arrested aren’t present or at the very least [if] their position is clear,” she said.
“As things stand at the moment, they have a very strong feeling that they do not wish to participate further [at the commission]. We will take further instructions from them tomorrow.”
