Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will take steps to seek the release of the miners imprisoned as a result of the strike at Lonmin’s mine in Marikana.

In 2012, the South African Government established the Marikana Commission of Inquiry (also known as the Farlam Commission) to ascertain the facts surrounding the events at Lonmin mine. The Commission issued its report in 2015 and the South African Government accepted full responsibility for the incident, agreeing in 2016 to pay R1.17 billion (£75 million) in compensation. The majority of the 270 miners charged under South African criminal law as a result of the strike at Lonmin have since been released after their charges were dropped by the South African Police.