Pressure is on police
NEWS ANALYSIS: Rustenburg mines on edge as union killings continue
The murders of Amcu members around Rustenburg seem to have a very different set of motives from the killings before Marikana, but they still have the potential to disrupt labour stability
The method and timing of the recent murders of six members of the Association of Mineworkers & Construction Union (Amcu) in the Rustenburg area raise two possibilities, neither of which suggests a deeper problem with labour relations yet. But mining bosses are on edge. If the police drag their heels in finding the perpetrators, tensions between Amcu and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) could resurface. Last week a single arrest was made. Between 2012 and 2014 platinum mines around Rustenburg were shaken by violence as Amcu started to increase its membership at the expense of the NUM. There were murders of rivals and work stoppages, leading to the meeting at Marikana in August 2012 when police shot and killed 34 striking mineworkers. A few months later, Amcu members embarked on a five-month strike for higher wages. In the past three years Amcu has become a more established union at the same time as platinum mines, under threat from weak prices and rising costs, have retrenched...
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