JOHANNESBURG - The office of the Solicitor-General said that it had been prompted by the Marikana Massacre to develop policies that fast-track settlements.
Ten years since the killing of 34 Lonmin miners and the wounding of many others by police and the state is still dealing with litigation.
The miners were shot during a strike over salaries.
Ten people, including police officers and security guards, were killed in the week before.
While the state has paid almost R76 million in settlements to families of the men killed during the Marikana Massacre, 10 years later, some who were injured and arrested were still litigating.
Solicitor-General Fhedzisani Pandelani said that the delays had been caused by the lack of policy for early settlements.
But he insisted that this was a thing of the past.
"The office of the Solicitor-General has already developed a policy that is binding within state departments for early settlement of state matters and that policy has been approved by Cabinet," Pandelani said.
Pandelani said that more policies were in the pipeline.
"So there would be, going forward, about five policies that will, in fact, be geared towards dealing with matters of this nature," Pandelani said.
Deputy Judge President Aubrey Ledwaba has given the parties until the end of this month to settle each matter on a case management basis but if no consensus is reached, the matter may have to appear before a judge for a legal battle.
