Johannesburg - Leaders of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) condemned the police outright on Thursday after striking workers were shot dead in Marikana.
Amcu secretary-general Jeff Mphahlele said the killings happened after their failed meeting with Lonmin’s management, who refused to address the striking workers about their wage demands.
“We are terribly shocked about the way police handled the matter. There was no evidence that the workers who were sitting on the hilltop fired any shots at the police.”
It was just after 4pm when police officers opened fire on the striking workers advancing on them.
“Prior to the killings, we tried to talk to the police and were pleading with them to refrain from using force, but they threatened us with guns. There was no need for the police to use such force.
“The management of Lonmin was involved in these killings,” Mphahlele said.
The union has called for an investigation.
Meanwhile, the National Union of Mineworkers has distanced itself from the police action, but blamed rival union Amcu for the bloodshed.
NUM spokesman Lesiba Seshoka told e.tv on Thursday night that Amcu must take full responsibility for the killings, alleging that they had condoned the workers’ demand for a 200 percent salary increase to R12 500.
“The president of Amcu told the workers that he would deliver their demands. NUM president [Senzeni Zokwana] tried to address the workers about the illegal strike.
“The workers demanded that he should get off from the Casspir and address them, but he refused. We are happy that he refused, because they would have attacked him,” Seshoka said.
Earlier on Thursday, NUM general secretary Frans Baleni took a swipe at the police, saying they were aware of the identities of the perpetrators, and that a sangoma from the Eastern Cape had been called.
He said the sangoma’s job was to provide the workers with muti to allow them to wield their pangas against NUM members and fire on them.
“These people pay R500 for a mug of muti. They are armed with pangas and guns, and without them being searched, the police will never solve the problem. The NUM also does not have an armoury of weapons to deal with these criminals,” Zokwana claimed.
He and Baleni dissociated their union from the violence, but claimed that some of their members were coerced into taking part in the illegal strike and risking their lives.
Baleni and Zokwana claimed the police were aware of a hitlist that named Lonmin’s NUM members.
A man found dead on Tuesday, one of the NUM’s shop stewards, had been on the hitlist, he said.
The Star