Rustenburg-The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) has condemned the “senseless killing” of its North West regional organiser at Lonmin, Mawethu Joseph Steven in Rustenburg at the weekend.

The union has called for calm and appealed to its members to refrain from avenging his death. Stevens was a former branch secretary of rival National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).

He was killed at a local tavern and was due to testify at the Farlam Commission into the killing of 44 people, including 34 mineworkers, during the violent strikes at Marikana last August.

Amcu president, Joseph Mathunjwa, on Monday expressed outrage at the killing. “We condemn these senseless killings of our members in the strongest terms possible. We hope this time that our police will find the killers and that justice will be served in the same way it would, were it not an Amcu member.”

He called on their members to “remain calm and allow the law to take its course”.

He said: “People did not like his departure (from NUM) to Amcu. Allegations were made that all the chaos in the platinum belt was because of Steven. His name was mentioned many times during the Farlam Commission. Lonmin and NUM were accusing Steven that he was behind the violence in Marikana.”

NUM spokesperson, Lesiba Seshoka, said Steven was never axed from the union: “He was voted out by members. He was not re-elected after his three-year term, that’s the nature of a democracy.”

North West police spokesperson Brig Thulani Ngubane said that the police were looking for four suspects linked to Steven’s murder.

Meanwhile, the SA Communist Party (SACP) has called for a specialised police task team to be deployed to Rustenburg.

SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande said police should go deep in probing the incidents and that law enforcement agencies should put special focus on the area so as to avoid a repeat of such incidents.

The ANC has condemned Steven’s death and had called on law enforcement agencies to bring those involved to book over the incident.

Spokesperson for the Farlam Commission, Tshepho Mahlangu, said while there was no evidence or any suggestion that the killing was related to the commission, they had informed all witnesses to come forward if they felt that they might be in danger.

“The witnesses are protected under the Witness Protection Act so we have an obligation to adhere to it,” Mahlangu said. – Additional reporting by Dudu Dube.

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