Two more security guards have been seriously assaulted in an incident linked to the security-industry strike, police said on Thursday.
West Rand police spokesperson Captain Joseph Mogoai said the pair were accosted by a gang of 10 people — thought to be striking security guards — on a train between Witpoortjie and Roodepoort at 6.40pm on Wednesday night.
They were attacked and beaten with sjamboks. Both were in a stable condition in a nearby hospital on Thursday morning.
No arrests have been made since the incident.
Several security guards not taking part in industrial action have been attacked by strikers in the past weeks and several have been murdered.
A number of incidents have taken place on trains with some guards stripped naked before being severely beaten and then hurled off the train.
At the end of April, six people died on the East Rand after they were thrown from a moving train by suspected striking security guards. All of the deceased suffered multiple injuries.
Two weeks before this incident, South African rail transport utility Metrorail had obtained a court interdict against the striking South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu), warning it to refrain from acts of violence or vandalism to property.
The company took the step after another commuter was killed when he was stripped naked and thrown from a train. Several other commuters were also beaten up and rail coaches were damaged. — Sapa