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A South African commission has recommended a criminal investigation into police over the deaths of 34 miners during a strike in 2012.

President Jacob Zuma said the inquiry concluded the police had a "defective plan" to end the strike at the Marikana mine and were wrong to proceed with it.

Police have always claimed self-defence over the shooting of the workers during a protest over wages.

Mr Zuma called it a "horrendous tragedy that has no place in a democracy".

"We should, as a nation, learn from this painful episode. We should use it to build a more united, peaceful and cohesive society," he said.

Criminally liable?

The killings were the worst violence in South Africa since the end of apartheid 20 years ago, and led to intense scrutiny over the roles of the police, mining companies, unions and the government.

The miners had been striking for a number of days, and 10 other people had already died at the site - including non-striking miners, security guards and two police officers - before the events of 16 August.

Reading out the findings of the inquiry, Mr Zuma said that the police had planned to encircle the strikers with barbed wire in the morning and allow them out after disarming them.

But as the number of strikers grew later in the day, they implemented a "tactical option" which the commission said was "defective in a number of respects".