S Africa to free miners as murder charges quashed

A South African court Monday was due to start releasing 270 miners Monday arrested over the deaths of 34 of their colleagues killed by police, after prosecutors withdrew murder charges against them. Prosecutors provisionally dropped the charges Sunday amid a public outrage after officers opened fire on strikers at platinum giant Lonmin's Marikana mine in the worst day of police violence since the end of apartheid. Lawyers were waiting for the detainees to be brought to court near Pretoria early Monday afternoon. "The release will start around 2:00 pm (1200 GMT)," lawyer for the detained Mapule Keetse told AFP. A dozen onlookers stood by outside the court precinct with a handful of family members with one poster urging "Release Innocent Workers". "We heard a promise to say maybe they'll release somebody," said a woman, who did not want to be identified, sitting outside a courtroom where she had come to support her brother-in-law. National Prosecuting Authority spokeswoman Bulelwa Makeke said police had verified the addresses of 140 detainees -- a prerequisite for releasing them -- by Saturday and that the figure was likely to have increased. "The police have been working continuously so as they verify, they add the numbers, so the numbers are a moving target," she said. The original decision last Thursday to charge the miners over the August 16 killings during a wildcat strike at the mine northwest of Johannesburg had triggered outrage. On Friday, South Africa's justice minister demanded prosecutors explain why the arrested miners had been charged with murdering their colleagues during what was in fact a crackdown by police. Speaking Sunday, acting national director of prosecutions Nomgcobo Jiba said a final decision on whether to press murder charges would be taken after a series of investigations into the shootings. These include a judicial commission of inquiry appointed by President Jacob Zuma, which has until January to present its findings. Lawyers for the mineworkers have argued that their detention is unlawful, and demanded their release in an open letter to Zuma. The president however has refused to act on their demand, arguing that it would be interfering with the work of the judiciary. Legal experts had slammed the charges, which the prosecuting agency argued were under a common purpose principle that allows a group of people to be charged for acting together to commit a criminal act. It was once used by the apartheid-era white-minority regime to crack down on black activists who were fighting for equality. Minister in the presidency, Collins Chabane denied the government played a part in the about-turn. "The government did not at any stage try to pressurise the NPA people to take a decision," he told foreign correspondents. Police claimed self-defence in the shooting, after an escalating stand-off between rival unions had already killed 10 people including two police officers during an increasingly bitter strike over pay. The mine remained shut after talks failed to end the strike. The talks resumed on Monday and Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant was upbeat about a breakthrough. "There is that possibility," that the workers will report for work on Tuesday, she said. The workers are "prepared to work, provided the company was going to listen to them. I must say the company has listened," Oliphant told reporters. The striking miners, who say they currently earn 4,000 rand a month (around 375 euros or $475), have refused to return unless they get a wage increase to 12,500 rand. Lonmin, the world's number three platinum producer, says the workers already earn around 10,000 rand when bonuses and other compensation are included.