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Miners charged with murder
Topic Started: Sep 2 2012, 04:07 AM (159 Views)
Caro

I don't think I have read a mainstream news item that amazed me more than the one yesterday about the South African miners being charged with the murder of their 34 co-workers! Something to do with 'common purpose' arguing the miners were complicit in the killings since they had weapons when they were arrested at the scene. Do the SA authorities not care how they are seen in the wider world at all? I feel as if President Zuma is heading down the Robert Mugabe track and that would be such a shame after the care Nelson Mandela took to ensure a sense of reconciliation.

I don't know a lot of the ins and outs of the political situation in South Africa now, but it doesn't seem to be going in the right direction. How the miners can be charged with murder and not given bail when it was the police who killed their friends and colleagues is something I am not getting my head around at all? I see something about a turf war between miners' unions. Is this relevant?
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caissier
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It looks like a similar principle to telling a big enough lie - perpetrating a big enough outrageous injustice .............
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madfor4

I gather the 'law' they are charged under is an old apartheid-era 'common purpose' doctrine.

It just goes to show that, when power is at stake, there is no difference between black and white.
"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss" (The Who)
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rumbaba
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Animal Farm comes to mind :(
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