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| In Police Shooting of Miners, South Africa Charges Miners | In Police Shooting of Miners, South Africa Charges Miners |
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| LUANDA, Angola — Two weeks after the police opened fire on a crowd of 3,000 workers engaged in a wildcat strike at a platinum mine near Johannesburg, killing 34 people in the bloodiest labor unrest since the end of apartheid, prosecutors are bringing murder charges against a surprising set of suspects: the miners themselves. | LUANDA, Angola — Two weeks after the police opened fire on a crowd of 3,000 workers engaged in a wildcat strike at a platinum mine near Johannesburg, killing 34 people in the bloodiest labor unrest since the end of apartheid, prosecutors are bringing murder charges against a surprising set of suspects: the miners themselves. |
| Using an obscure legal doctrine frequently relied upon by the apartheid government in its dying days, prosecutors did not accuse the police officers who shot and killed the strikers as they surged forward, machetes in hand. Instead, officials said Thursday that they were pursuing murder charges against the 270 miners who were arrested after the dust settled and the shooting stopped. | Using an obscure legal doctrine frequently relied upon by the apartheid government in its dying days, prosecutors did not accuse the police officers who shot and killed the strikers as they surged forward, machetes in hand. Instead, officials said Thursday that they were pursuing murder charges against the 270 miners who were arrested after the dust settled and the shooting stopped. |
| It was the latest astonishing turn in a saga that has gripped South Africa, unleashing a torrent of rage over deepening inequality, poverty and unemployment. | It was the latest astonishing turn in a saga that has gripped South Africa, unleashing a torrent of rage over deepening inequality, poverty and unemployment. |
| The shootings have fed a growing sense of betrayal at the country’s governing party, the venerable African National Congress, many of whose senior members have joined a wealthy elite a world away from the downtrodden masses whose votes brought them to power at the end of apartheid in 1994. Now the prosecutors’ decision to charge the miners in the killings threatened to intensify that rift. | The shootings have fed a growing sense of betrayal at the country’s governing party, the venerable African National Congress, many of whose senior members have joined a wealthy elite a world away from the downtrodden masses whose votes brought them to power at the end of apartheid in 1994. Now the prosecutors’ decision to charge the miners in the killings threatened to intensify that rift. |
| Frank Lesenyego, a spokesman for the National Prosecuting Authority, cited “34 counts of murder that have been laid against the 270 accused,” in connection with the killings of 34 miners on Aug. 16. He said they were being charged under a law known as “common purpose,” in which members of a crowd when a crime is committed can be prosecuted as accomplices. | Frank Lesenyego, a spokesman for the National Prosecuting Authority, cited “34 counts of murder that have been laid against the 270 accused,” in connection with the killings of 34 miners on Aug. 16. He said they were being charged under a law known as “common purpose,” in which members of a crowd when a crime is committed can be prosecuted as accomplices. |
| It was unclear whether the charges were simply a legal maneuver to keep the miners, who have been in jail for two weeks, under lock and key, or if prosecutors were intent on pursuing the murder charge in court. Legal experts were quick to say that the charges were extreme. | It was unclear whether the charges were simply a legal maneuver to keep the miners, who have been in jail for two weeks, under lock and key, or if prosecutors were intent on pursuing the murder charge in court. Legal experts were quick to say that the charges were extreme. |
| “The charge is spurious,” said Pierre de Vos, a legal scholar at the University of Cape Town. “It will not fly. No court in South Africa on any set of facts will find the miners guilty through the common-purpose doctrine.” | “The charge is spurious,” said Pierre de Vos, a legal scholar at the University of Cape Town. “It will not fly. No court in South Africa on any set of facts will find the miners guilty through the common-purpose doctrine.” |
| Patrick Craven, a spokesman for Cosatu, a federation of trade unions, blasted the murder charges. | Patrick Craven, a spokesman for Cosatu, a federation of trade unions, blasted the murder charges. |
| “This is pure intimidation,” Mr. Craven said. “The lawyers must really be very stupid if they think these charges will stick. The notion that these miners are responsible for the deaths of their own fellow workers is absurd.” | “This is pure intimidation,” Mr. Craven said. “The lawyers must really be very stupid if they think these charges will stick. The notion that these miners are responsible for the deaths of their own fellow workers is absurd.” |
| Several thousand workers at a platinum mine in the town of Marikana, 80 miles northwest of Johannesburg, owned by the London-based Lonmin, went on strike earlier this month, demanding a raise. The men were members of a radical, breakaway union whose leaders were trying to drum up membership and had urged workers to strike to get higher pay and better working conditions. They occupied a rocky hill near the mine, armed themselves with machetes, spears and clubs, and chanted war songs and anthems from the struggle against apartheid. | Several thousand workers at a platinum mine in the town of Marikana, 80 miles northwest of Johannesburg, owned by the London-based Lonmin, went on strike earlier this month, demanding a raise. The men were members of a radical, breakaway union whose leaders were trying to drum up membership and had urged workers to strike to get higher pay and better working conditions. They occupied a rocky hill near the mine, armed themselves with machetes, spears and clubs, and chanted war songs and anthems from the struggle against apartheid. |
| For days, the authorities watched warily as the crowd grew more militant. Two police officers were hacked to death, and eight other people were killed in violent clashes. On Aug. 16, the police were given the order to move in. The police said they tried to chase away the miners with rubber bullets and stun grenades, but were forced to resort to live ammunition when the miners surged at them. The police said that they retrieved six guns from the scene, including one that belonged to one of the dead police officers. | For days, the authorities watched warily as the crowd grew more militant. Two police officers were hacked to death, and eight other people were killed in violent clashes. On Aug. 16, the police were given the order to move in. The police said they tried to chase away the miners with rubber bullets and stun grenades, but were forced to resort to live ammunition when the miners surged at them. The police said that they retrieved six guns from the scene, including one that belonged to one of the dead police officers. |
| The bloodshed, so reminiscent of the horror of the apartheid-era police’s firing upon protesters, stunned the nation. The government, trade unions and the opposition roundly condemned the violence, and President Jacob Zuma set up an independent commission of inquiry to investigate the killings and gave it broad powers to subpoena testimony. | The bloodshed, so reminiscent of the horror of the apartheid-era police’s firing upon protesters, stunned the nation. The government, trade unions and the opposition roundly condemned the violence, and President Jacob Zuma set up an independent commission of inquiry to investigate the killings and gave it broad powers to subpoena testimony. |
| Journalists at the scene caught some of the shooting on videotape and in photographs. The police account, meticulously laid out in a multimedia presentation the day after the shooting, has been questioned by witnesses and journalists who have examined the scene, concluding that at least some of the workers were killed in what appear to be much more suspicious circumstances. | |
| Some of the dead and wounded, according to local news reports, were killed far from the scene of the strike or shot in the back, suggesting that they were not directly involved in the confrontation or fleeing it. | Some of the dead and wounded, according to local news reports, were killed far from the scene of the strike or shot in the back, suggesting that they were not directly involved in the confrontation or fleeing it. |
| The common-purpose doctrine used by prosecutors against the miners has its roots in English law, and is not unlike laws that allow anyone associated with a crime to be charged as an accomplice with the same crime, Mr. de Vos said. But it was widely abused in the last days of apartheid to jail troublemakers, Mr. de Vos said. | The common-purpose doctrine used by prosecutors against the miners has its roots in English law, and is not unlike laws that allow anyone associated with a crime to be charged as an accomplice with the same crime, Mr. de Vos said. But it was widely abused in the last days of apartheid to jail troublemakers, Mr. de Vos said. |
| Based on the known facts in this case, however, bringing the charge makes little sense, he said. | |
| “They are conflating the possibility that the crowd might have provoked the police, which is something different from willing on the police to shoot and kill people,” Mr. de Vos said. “If a court were to convict it would be akin to a finding that they had the intention of killing themselves.” | “They are conflating the possibility that the crowd might have provoked the police, which is something different from willing on the police to shoot and kill people,” Mr. de Vos said. “If a court were to convict it would be akin to a finding that they had the intention of killing themselves.” |