Pretoria - North West Premier Supra Mahumapelo has condemned the torching of a car belonging to a non-striking mine worker in Sefike village, outside Rustenburg.
Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) workers at Lonmin, Amplats and Implats platinum mines downed tools in January over wage increases. The protracted strike has been marred by the continued intimidation of non-striking workers.
“The heinous acts of violence and intimidation unleashed on non-striking workers calls for parties involved in the wage dispute to bring the protracted strike to an end,” Premier Mahumapelo said in a statement on Tuesday.
The car, which is believed to have belonged to a National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) member who had rejoined the union, was torched at 12:15 am on Tuesday.
He had apparently been receiving threatening calls since he rejoined NUM.
Premier Mahumapelo appealed to communities in the platinum belt to assist police in their investigations to ensure that those behind the “senseless violence” are brought to book.
Minister of Mineral Resources, Ngoako Ramatlhodi, on Tuesday announced the withdrawal of the inter-governmental task team in the wage dispute in order to exert pressure on platinum producers and AMCU to move towards a common ground.
The task team was set up two weeks ago, following the appointment of the new minister.
Minister Ramatlhodi dispelled perceptions that his withdrawal meant he was abandoning the parties, and said he was simply giving parties some space to engage further without government involvement, and that by doing so, he was exerting pressure for both sides to reach an agreement.
The strike has reportedly cost platinum producers R21 billion in lost revenue and workers R1 billion in lost wages. – SAnews.gov.za
