Striking miners in South Africa threatened to kill workers in a nearby mine on Wednesday unless they joined the crippling work stoppage.
Hundreds of the striking Lonmin miners, supported by ululating women, gathered on Wednesday near the spot where police killed 34 striking miners on August 16. The striking miners then marched from the Marikana platinum mine northwest of Johannesburg to the nearby Karee mine, which is also owned by Lonmin, and demanded that all workers join the strike for higher wages or face violence and even death.
The striking mineworkers gave working colleagues a deadline of 1pm to leave Karee mine or be killed.
“After one we don’t want to see anybody in the shaft. Those who come to work tomorrow we will kill them,” said one striker who refused to give his name. Another man shouted, “There will be more blood if we do not get 12,500 rand.”
The strikers said they want a monthly minimum wage of 12,500 rand (US$1,560).
A delegation of seven young strikers was allowed to meet with mine managers. They were led past the phalanx of six police armoured cars and a water cannon truck to the barbed wire gate of Karee mine. Behind the gate the Karee mine’s two white mine managers, with an armed security guard nearby, stood with their hands on their hips as the strikers got down on their knees.