Police kill at least 18 strikers at South Africa platinum mine

Published on 17/08/2012 00:00

SOUTH African police shot dead at least 18 striking miners yesterday as thousands, armed with sticks and machetes, besieged the Marikana platinum mine owned by ­Lonmin.

The shooting occurred when police laying barricades of barbed wire were outflanked by some of an estimated 3,000 miners massed on a rocky outcrop near the mine, 60 miles north-west of Johannesburg. Police said talks with leaders of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) had broken down, leaving no option but to disperse them by force. “Today is unfortunately D-day,” spokesman Dennis ­Adriao said.

Ten people, including two policemen, have died in nearly a week of fighting between rival worker factions at the mine, the latest platinum plant to be hit by fallout from an eight-month union turf war. On Wednesday, up to 3,000 police, including an elite riot control unit backed by helicopters and horses, confronted the striking rock-drill operators, but there were no clashes. Before the police advance, Joseph Mathunjwa, president of AMCU, which is recruiting in areas previously the reserve of the National Union of Mineworkers – linked to the ruling ANC – said there would be bloodshed if police moved in. “We’re going nowhere,” he shouted through a loudhailer, to cheers from the crowd. “If need be, we’re prepared to die here.”

South Africa has 80 per cent of global platinum reserves.