The senseless violence related to the strike by AMCU in the platinum belt should be stamped out before more lives are lost, North West Premier Thandi Modise said in condemning renewed violence in which six non-striking miners were killed and six others were wounded on Monday.  

“These incidents call for parties involved in the wage dispute to sober up and employ extraordinary measures to immediately end the strike which has entered into its fourth month before matters get out of hand. One life lost thus far is a life too many,” Premier Modise said.

Modise called on non-striking workers who have been on the receiving end of the violence and acts of intimidation to exercise restraint, remain calm and to let the law to take its course.

The Premier called on employers to tighten the security of non-striking workers who are reporting for duty. She also appealed to the community to assist police in their investigations to ensure that those responsible are behind bars.

“No bail for perpetrators and stiff sentences for those behind the reign of terror unleashed on non-striking miners and communities in the platinum belt will be the only deterrent,” Modise stressed.

According to police, a 60-year-old mineworker was found dead with multiple stab wounds in Bapong on Monday,.“On Sunday, in Bapong village, a couple was found strangled to death, the wife was stripped naked, the husband was a mineworker… the couple ran an illegal shebeen,” police spokesperson Brigadier Thulane  Ngubane said.

Ngubane said that another was burned to ashes in the Big House informal settlement in Bapong.-TDN
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