/ 22 July 2013

NUM-linked man dies in hospital after attack

NUM volunteers hand out T-shirts and stickers in Rustenburg to attract new members.
NUM volunteers hand out T-shirts and stickers in Rustenburg to attract new members.

"He died last night [Sunday] in hospital after suffering serious injuries as a result of the attack earlier during the day," said National Union of Mineworkers' (NUM) spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka on Monday.

The man, whose name was being withheld until his next-of-kin were informed, was stabbed in the neck while wearing an NUM T-shirt.

Armed police guarded the paramedics who attended to him said he had blood on his chin and cheeks from a stab wound in the neck. Paramedics put an oxygen mask on him and took him to hospital at speed.

Earlier, NUM official Eric Gclitshana told the rally people were being killed for wearing an NUM T-shirt. 

"We are shocked and disappointed that such acts happen under police watch, and that no progress has been made by the police to curb these killings at Lonmin," said Seshoka Police were not immediately available to comment.

The NUM is trying to recruit new members after losing its majority union status to the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu)  at Lonmin's Marikana mine.

The union has referred a dispute to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration about the interpretation and implementation of the recognition agreement. Forty-four people were killed in Marikana last August during strike-related violence at Lonmin.

Thirty four of them were shot dead by the police on August 16. Ten people, including two police officers and two security guards, were killed in the preceding week.

Condemnation
Meanwhile, North West Premier Thandi Modise on Sunday condemned the attack.

Modise called on the police to find those responsible and put them behind bars, she said in a statement on Sunday.

"The faceless instigators of violence within these communities have to be unmasked and brought to book soonest so that violence does not become a way of life in these communities," Modise said.

The premier appealed to members of the public to come forward with information that might assist police in their investigations.

She also called on rival unions NUM and the Amcu to desist from acts of provocation, violence and intimidation, and to respect the Marikana peace accord signed on February 25. – Sapa