In a statement issued yesterday, the Marikana Commission of Inquiry postponed proceedings until Wednesday after obtaining documents showing that the SAPS version of events 'is in material respects not the truth'. The commission says it found documents the SAPS said didn't exist; documents the commission believes the SAPS should have disclosed, but didn't; documents claiming to be written at the time of Marikana, but which the commission believes were actually written later at a nine-day meeting in Potchefstroom where the SAPS prepared its case ahead of the commission; and documents showing that the SAPS version of events at Marikana put forward both in evidence and presentation were 'in material respects not the truth'. 'We do not make this statement lightly,' the commission is reported to have said. 'In the light of the documents which we have found, it is also necessary for us to work through all of the new material in our possession, and to obtain access to additional hard drives and electronic records, before we are ready to continue with the hearing. It will also be necessary for the SAPS legal team to consult with their clients on these matters.' Full report in The Mercury (subscription needed)

Evidence leader Mathew Chaskalson SC said proof had been unearthed that police had expertly tampered with the evidence they presented, including deleting some video evidence from a computer hard drive, notes a Business Day report. This pointed to a deliberate attempt at 'skewing' the version of events of what had occurred in the SAPS' favour. Fellow evidence leader Geoff Budlender SC said the evidence leaders had obtained certain documents that the SAPS had previously said did not exist. 'This is a serious allegation. We do not make this statement lightly. SAPS' version as described in their initial evidence to the commission is seemingly not the truth. But we realise we must give SAPS the opportunity to explain what we see, for there might be a reasonable explanation.' According to the report, Lieutenant-Colonel Duncan Scott, who compiled evidence for the police, testified under oath that he had not tampered with the evidence and that he did not know of anyone who had. Full Business Day report (subscription needed) See also a report on the News24 site