Pretoria - North West Premier Thandi Modise has commended the latest arrests of three suspects linked to the assassinations in Marikana, hoping it will bring peace and stability in the mining area.
“We welcome the breakthroughs, and commend the police for the arrests. [This] indicates their determination to get to the bottom of the spate of violence and killings, in order to unmask and remove perpetrators of violence from society,” she said.
Modise said police investigations were continuing and that there were more possible arrests.
According to police, a 25-year-old suspect appeared briefly in the Rustenburg and Ga-Rankuwa Magistrates Courts yesterday.
He remains in police custody pending his court appearances in the respective courts next week Monday and Tuesday.
The suspect arrested over the weekend is allegedly linked to the murder of two National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) leaders, including a female shop steward, who was shot outside her house near the NUM offices at the Western Platinum Division in August.
Former shop steward Percy Letanang was shot seven times at his home in Segwaelane outside Marikana in November.
Modise has reiterated her call to unions in the mining sector to respect the Framework for Peace and Stability in the Mining Industry they had signed in February this year and to desist from provocation, violence, intimidation and murder.
Modise said union leaders should actively discourage their members from taking the law into their own hands.
Two other suspects are in police custody after they were arrested for the shooting of a 30-year-old man at a tavern in Wonderkop last weekend.
It is alleged that 33-year-old Lonmin employee, Vuyane Mtimba, shot the deceased twice on the upper body after a brief altercation.
Mtimba, who was said to be wearing an AMCU t-shirt at the time of the incident, reportedly fled the scene after the shooting.
The suspect, who is alleged to be residing in Nkaneng informal settlement, was arrested by police after he was found at Wonderkop Hostel, where he attempted to kill another man in an armed robbery incident.
He is alleged to have shot bullets towards the second suspect, but, missed. When police arrived, the suspect allegedly pointed the police with a firearm in an attempt to shoot them.
The police managed to arrest him and confiscate his 9mm, Norinco pistol and his accomplice, Nkosineza Noko, 30, was also arrested.
The two suspects were denied bail when they appeared in Marikana Periodical Court last Friday.
They are facing charges of attempted murder, possession of an unlicensed firearm as well as pointing of a firearm. Mtimba is also facing a murder charge in the Ga-Rankuwa Magistrate’s Court. - SAnews.gov.za
