JOHANNESBURG Feb 20 (Reuters) – A second miner has
been killed in clashes between rival unions striking at Impala
Platinum’s flagship plant, deepening more than a month
of labour unrest at the world’s biggest platinum mine, police
said on Monday.
Regional police spokesman Thulani Ngubane said a riot
started on Sunday when 600 men went house-to-house through a
township trying to force others to join them in a vandalism
spree at the mine, which accounts for 15 percent of world
platinum output.
“Their intention was to take them to the mineshaft. The
police struggled to disperse the crowd,” said Ngubane. The dead
man had been shot, and another was found with a bullet wound in
the thigh, he added.
Tensions at Implats’ Rustenburg operation, 120 km (80 miles)
northwest of Johannesburg, have been high since more than 17,000
workers were sacked following an illegal stay-away by drill
operators on Jan. 12.
Striking miners fought running battles with police last
week, and a man was stripped naked and beaten to death by a mob
for trying to report for work.
The industrial action has brought the mine to a standsill
and is costing Impala, the world’s second-biggest producer of
the precious metal, about 3,000 ounces a day in lost output.
The violence appears to stem from a dispute between factions
of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), South Africa’s
largest union, and a little-known rival called the Association
of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU).
(Reporting By Sherilee Lakmidas; Editing by Ed Cropley)
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