The last seven security guards who faced charges in the wake of last year's rampage through central Cape Town have walked free.
This means no-one is going to be held criminally liable for the violence which accompanied the march by striking members of the SA Transport and Allied Workers' Union (Satawu) on May 16.
Originally a total of 38 people were charged following the march, during which shop windows were broken, vehicles damaged and at least one person was assaulted.
Those arrested included Satawu Western Cape regional secretary Evan Abrahamse and Cosatu provincial secretary Tony Ehrenreich.
Charges against most of them, including Abrahamse and Ehrenreich, were however dropped before the matter even came to trial.
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The seven who remained - Anton Maqonga, Mfundo Meyiwa, Siyabulela Malindile, Khulelekule Ndamase, Mgomseni Jabase, Ayanda Rafuza and Loysoa Swartbooi - went on trial in the city's Regional Court on September 17.
They all pleaded not guilty to a charge of public violence.
However last Thursday, in a decision that went unreported at the time, magistrate Arno Laubscher discharged them at the end of the State's case, on the grounds that the State had not presented evidence on which a reasonable person could convict.
The discharge followed the inability of police witnesses to identify the accused as the people they arrested during the chaos of that day.
Nor could any of the seven be identified on a police video taken during the march.
A police witness told the court that about 125 cars and 42 buildings were damaged during the rampage.
But while the criminal case has been thrown out of court, Satawu may still be held civilly liable for the damage.
In the wake of the march, the city of Cape Town helped co-ordinate claims by about 170 individuals, including business owners.
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