PRETORIA: South African President Jacob Zuma named a judicial commission on Thursday to carry out a wide-ranging inquiry into clashes that killed 44 people during a miners’ strike and the labour conditions behind the unrest.

Zuma had announced the inquiry on the day after the August 16 police crackdown, when 34 workers were gunned down following inter-union clashes that earlier had killed 10 people at Lonmin's Marikana platinum mine.

Police are already investigating the killings, and the independent police watchdog is probing the conduct of the officers.

But Zuma's commission, appointed with unusual speed, has been granted broad purview to examine the police, mining giant Lonmin, rival unions, the government and any individuals involved in the violence.

“It has been directed to investigate matters of public, national and international concern rising out of the events in Marikana which led to the deaths of approximately 44 people, the injury of more than 70 persons and the arrest of more than 250 people,” Zuma said in televised remarks.—AFP