Prosecutors on September 2 decided to temporarily drop charges while investigations continue.

A South African court yesterday September 3 began releasing 270 miners who were arrested after police last month gunned down 34 of their colleagues during a strike over higher wages at a platinum mine in Marikana north of Johannesburg. The move followed a decision on Sunday September 2 by prosecutors to withdraw murder charges against the arrested miners, the AFP news agency said.

The Acting National Director of Prosecutions, Nomgcobo Jiba, on September 2 held a news conference to announce that the charges would be provisionally dropped. She added, however, that the charges cannot be dismissed formally until the end of the inquiry. National Prosecuting Authority Spokeswoman, Bulelwa Makeke, said yesterday September 3 that police had verified the addresses of 140 detainees - a prerequisite for releasing them. The BBC said the first 100 miners were to be freed yesterday and the remaining 170 on Thursday September 6. Also yesterday, talks were expected to resume on ending the strike that led to killing of the 34 workers.

The decision by prosecutors to drop the charges came amid a public furore over the incident, the worst day of police violence since the end of Apartheid. The original decision on Thursday August 30 to charge the striking miners over the August 16 killings during a strike at Marikana, triggered national outrage. It drew widespread condemnation from political parties, trade unions, activists and legal experts. The following day, Justice Minister, Jeff Radebe demanded a report from State prosecutors to explain the reasoning behind it.

After the shootings, State prosecutors invoked the Apartheid-era "common purpose" law to charge the 270 miners arrested during the violence for provoking police to open fire. The statute was used by the white-minority Apartheid regime to crack down on its black opponents.

The ruling African National Congress welcomed the dropping of the charges and the release of workers, saying it would allow the Presidential probe to go on and for police to continue with their investigations. Police claimed self-defence in the killing of 34 striking miners after an escalating stand-off between rival unions had already killed 10 people, including two policemen during an increasingly bitter strike over pay.