The Marikana Commission of Inquiry hearings continued this week with Mzoxolo Magidiwana, a survivor of the August 16 shooting, taking the stand to relate what he had experienced during Lonmin’s mine workers’ strike in August last year. Above: An injured Magidiwana (in green top, lying with face down) lies among dead mine workers who had just been shot by police officers at Marikana on August 16 2012. Magidiwana told the commission police officers shot him at point blank range as he lay injured among his dead colleagues. Picture: Felix Dlangamandla/Photo24

Magidiwana walks towards the witness stand at the Marikana Commission of Inquiry where he testified that police shot him while he lay injured on the ground. Police shot and killed 34 of the protesting miners. Magidiwana survived but is now walking with the aid of crutches as a result of the injuries sustained in the incident. Picture: Lucas Ledwaba/City Press

Magidiwana takes the oath before testifying at the commission. He testified that police were laughing as they shot him. Picture: Lucas Ledwaba/City Press

Magidiwana watches video footage of police firing at a crowd of mine workers. Picture: Lucas Ledwaba/City Press

An emotional Magidiwana reacts after watching footage of the August 16 shooting. Picture: Lucas Ledwaba/City Press

The commission was forced to adjourn for a while after Magidiwana broke down after viewing a video of the bodies of his mine worker colleagues lying on the ground. Picture: Lucas Ledwaba/City Press

Magidiwana (in green top) told the Marikana Commission of Inquiry that he only joined the strikers that morning at the koppie where they had gathered during the strike for a monthly salary of R12 500. Magidiwana testified that he carried only a stick. Picture: Lucas Ledwaba/City Press

The site of the hill where thousands of miners gathered for a strike demanding a monthly salary of R12 500. Magidiwana was one of about 3 000 workers who gathered here on August 16. Picture Lucas Ledwaba/City Press

Police have argued that Magidiwana and his group of armed colleagues were attacking the police with the aim of killing them. However, lawyers representing the mine workers have argued that they were merely trying to get to their homes in Nkaneng informal settlement, behind the police line. Picture: Lucas Ledwaba/City Press