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The record of the ANC in government is dires. The Marakana massacre could mark a turning point, writes Peter Stauber ( Counterfire ). In the end, prosecutors had to give in to public pressure: On Sunday, the murder charges against 270 miners were withdrawn – provisionally, which means that the miners could be re-charged once the investigations are complete. Either way, the damage is done. For an ANC government to even consider resorting a law that was once used by the white minority government against black pro-democracy activists, is bizarre (under “common purpose” doctrine, members of a crowd that confronts the police can be charged with murder if the clash results in fatalities – irrespective of whether they shot at the police or the police shot at them). As South African political analyst Justice Malala writes in the Guardian : “The common purpose doctrine was used in the 1980s by a regime that could not investigate or police its own people. Instead, it used a heinous blanket law to bully ordinary citizens and prevent them gathering and voicing their anger. Common purpose was the last throw of the dice of an illegitimate regime.” For the ANC government to use this law against striking workers shows, at the very least, a flagrant disregard for historical sensibilities.