* Justice minister raps prosecutors
* Apartheid era doctrine invoked to bring charges
* Police, Zuma already under pressure for deaths
By Jon Herskovitz
JOHANNESBURG, Aug 31 (Reuters) – South Africa’s justice
minister on Friday rebuked prosecutors for charging 270 miners
with the murder of 34 striking colleagues shot dead by police,
saying the decision had caused “shock, panic and confusion”
among the general public.
The police killing of the strikers at the Marikana mine this
month was one of the worst such incidents since the end of white
rule in 1994. The arrested miners have been charged under a law
dating from the apartheid era under which they are deemed to
have had a “common purpose” in the murder of their co-workers.
The African National Congress, whose members used to be
gunned down by apartheid police at protest rallies and targeted
with draconian laws, has been severely criticised for using
similar tactics now that it is in power.
President Jacob Zuma has seen his support erode, with his
enemies saying he is more interested in getting close to
industry and powerful labour groups than miners working deep
underground.
Zuma, speaking at a congress of the Socialist International
on Friday, did not comment on the murder charges. His justice
minister, Jeff Radebe, wanted answers.
Continued…
