We wait to see how the government reacts to court challenges by the families of those killed at Marikana during the platinum miners' strike. Yesterday, the families of 37 of the mine workers killed in August 2012 filed civil claims against the minister of police in the Pretoria High Court.The civil claims will put the focus on the government - and on President Jacob Zuma.Ten people were killed before the August 12 massacre but their deaths were overshadowed by the killings on the koppie.It will be interesting to see how the government and the police minister react to the litigation.According to the Socio-Economic Rights Institute of SA, the Legal Resources Centre and Wits Law Clinic, jointly representing the families of the slain miners, 326 dependants relied on the deceased workers' wages. They are now demanding compensation from the state.The families of the dead miners, in North West, Eastern Cape and Gauteng, and in Lesotho and Swaziland, live in grinding poverty. Despite some assistance from charities and churches, they are hopelessly destitute and believe they have no recourse other than to sue for compensation.Following the release of judge Ian Farlam's report on Marikana, we hope that Zuma and the ANC will try to heal the wounds and reassure South Africans that violence will not be met with violence by the police, and that the rule of law will be regarded as paramount.We have seen how the government and others in the ruling party failed to understand the magnitude of Marikana.The civil claims and the recent Marikana report give the government another opportunity to communicate the right message to the public, and for the minister of police to at last apologise to the bereaved families for the loss of their loved ones...