Officials Say South African Police Lied About Mine Strike Killings

34 were killed; officers claimed self-defense.

South African police lied about the Marikana shootings last year, in which 34 striking miners were killed, a commission of inquiry has said.

Police falsified or withheld documents, and gave false accounts of events, it said.

The police shooting of the miners at the Lonmin-owned platinum mine in August 2012 shocked the nation.

The police said they were acting in self-defence, days after two officers had been hacked to death by protesters.

The commission was appointed by President Jacob Zuma to investigate the deaths of the 34 miners - the most deadly police action since the end of white minority rule in 1994.