On Aug. 16, police said they had failed to persuade the strikers to disarm and that it was 'D-Day' to end the strike at the London-registered Lonmin PLC platinum mine. That afternoon, striking miners armed with clubs, machetes and at least one gun allegedly charged at police, who opened fire, killing 34 and wounding at least 78. Photo by Reuters.
Some 270 miners were charged Thursday with the murders of 34 striking colleagues who were shot and killed by South African police officers, authorities said, a development that could further infuriate South Africans already shocked and angered by the police action.
The decision to charge the miners comes under an arcane Roman-Dutch common cause law, and it suggests President Jacob Zuma’s government wants to shift blame for the killings from police to the striking miners.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Frank Lesenyego told The Associated Press that “It’s the police who were shooting but they were under attack by the protesters, who were armed, so today the 270 accused are charged with the murders” of those who were shot.
Some survivors said many of the miners were fleeing police tear gas and water cannons when they were shot.