Many right-thinking people must have recoiled in horror at the thought that police could shoot into an unarmed crowd of protesters and subsequently charge the survivors with murder.
But it was and is still possible in South Africa under an old apartheid law that was used by white rulers to crush the legitimate expectations of the black majority. Now a black government has used the said law against its own people.
Since the beginning of August, thousands of angry miners have been organizing strikes and clashing with the police. They were demanding substantial increases in wages and the institutionalization of a new labour union.
In keeping with the new dispensation, the crowds of indignant miners have not intimidated the authorities. In fact, the South African police retaliated by using force against the protesters.
The most unfortunate incident was when police opened fire on a group of workers from the Marikana mine, killing 34. But more shocking than these killings was the reaction of the authorities in the aftermath.
The National Prosecution Authority (NPA) used the infamous “common purpose” doctrine – institutionalized by the previous apartheid regime to curb disturbances in the public sphere – to convict the 270 protesting miners of murder.
Not only were the charges thoroughly unfair and illogical, the strategy exposed the double standards of the authorities. During the apartheid rule, the African National Congress (ANC) violently opposed the very doctrine that it used to crush the dissenting miners.
Not for the first time, these apartheid laws were conveniently used to achieve certain political objectives. Many see it as the politicization of the criminal justice system and concerns were first raised when former President Thabo Mbeki relentlessly pursued present President Jacob Zuma.
However, common sense prevailed as the court has provisionally set aside charges against the miners and released most of them after a public outcry. This hasty reaction to mitigate popular dissent only shows the partiality of the prosecuting authority towards the miners.
The ANC has built its credibility as a party representing the black majority, but its use of the notorious “common purpose” law to detain miners is a major letdown and shows that it would renege on its promises and ideals to achieve its own ends. Such blatant hypocrisy cannot be excused.
It is also particularly tragic that an ANC government would ironically resort to the oppressive tactics of the previous racist regime to crush dissent. Now, under Zuma’s presidency, concern has congealed into trepidation as political poison seems to have been injected into South Africa’s prosecution service. This development is likely to affect Zuma’s chances at the ANC’s leadership conference in December.
Governments are toppled and leaders go, but laws and institutions are notoriously resilient.
Nothing better confirms this assertion than the miners’ crisis in South Africa.
