The killing of 34 striking miners in Marikana was the worst incident of police violence in South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994.

Though the miners were armed with clubs and machetes, and Al Jazeera cameras captured at least one firing a gun, the police response has been criticised as excessive, and the resulting investigation as potentially flawed.

For the parents of one young man killed by police who thought he was hiding a gun, the Marikana incident reflects procedure that has become too standard.

Haru Mutasa reports from Johannesburg.