While South Africa's labour laws are either celebrated or bemoaned as some of the most progressive in the world, even progressive collective bargaining law accepts unquestioningly the desirability of maintaining the basic structure of a liberal capitalist order.

Ten years on, survivors of the Marikana massacre and the families of those murdered by police continue to seek accountability and compensation from the South African state. Although the state has paid about R76-million in settlements to some affected families, many others continue litigation proceedings.

However, in a recent development, a case was brought by 329 survivors who seek to hold not the state, but President Cyril Ramaphosa personally liable for his collusive conduct which led to the killing of 34 strikers on 16 August 2012 (At the time of the massacre, Ramaphosa was both a majority shareholder and director of Lonmin, as well as deputy president of the country).

The affected workers applied to the Johannesburg High Court to seek damages of R1-billion from Ramaphosa and Lonmin (now owned by Sibanye-Stillwater).

In the first week of July 2022, Judge Frits van Oosten made a significant ruling that there was indeed sufficient evidence of complicity in the events that led to the...