MONDAY, 5.00PM
The conflict between the National Union of Mineworkers and the Mouthpiece Workers’ Union at Anglo American Platinum Mines near Rustenburg took a turn for the worse at the weekend, when a NUM shopsteward was murdered on Saturday, and another two NUM members were killed on Monday morning.
At 2am on Saturday, a group of men forcibly entered Amplats’s Bleskop hostel in Rustenburg and shot dead NUM shopsteward Simon Hlabane and his son, who was visiting him. On Monday morning, two men in possession of NUM membership cards were shot dead in Mqanduli in the Transkei area of the Eastern Cape, apparently while on their way to Coffee Bay to deliver condolences to the family of Eric Rixi, another NUM shopsteward who was killed in June. Police said the names of the two will be released once their next-of-kin have been informed, and confirmed that a third man shot in the incident is in Umtata hospital in a serious condition.
Hlabane’s killing occurred after a meeting to discuss the level of tension building between the NUM and Mouthpiece Workers’ Union at Amplats mines was held on Friday.
Last Monday, Mfizeni Gebedu, 36, a NUM whip, was shot dead at his home in Coffee Bay in Transkei. His one-year-old daughter and eight-year-old sister were also killed and his wife is recovering in hospital. R4 rifles were also used in both the attack on Gebedu and the Mqanduli attack.
Gebedu was believed to be in Coffee Bay to prepare for Rixi’s funeral.
The National Union of Mineworkers on Monday appealed to police to thoroughly investigate the murders. NUM representative Ben Molapo said the union has no idea who is killing its members.
Tensions at Amplats date to an illegal strike last year which took place after workers rejected NUM representatives. The strike ended when Amplats fired the entire workforce and rehired selectively. The Mouthpiece Workers’ Union appeared shortly thereafter, claiming to represent fired mineworkers. Things came to a head on May 14 this year, when two NUM workers were tortured at the hands of a Mouthpiece kangaroo court, followed in June by the murders of two NUM shopstewards at Amplats. Last Monday, Amplats and eight unions, including the NUM and Mouthpiece, signed a declaration of intent committing themselves to an end to violence.
NUM president James Motlatsi said on Sunday he does not believe the Mouthpiece Workers’ Union has the capacity to carry out attacks from Transkei to Rustenburg. He said he believes there are other forces behind the violence.
11