South Africa: 3 miners defying platinum sector strike killed amid increasing tension

PRETORIA, South Africa – Tension is rising in South Africa’s platinum mine sector, where three miners who were working in defiance of a strike have been killed in separate incidents.

The South African Press Association quoted police as saying Tuesday that the platinum-mining area around Rustenburg town was quiet after the violence that had started Sunday. The agency says one slain miner was stabbed, another was set afire and a third miner and his wife were strangled to death.

Authorities are increasingly concerned about conflict between miners who want to work and tens of thousands of miners who went on strike in January. The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, a labour group, wants higher wages.

In 2012, South African police fatally shot several dozen miners during labour unrest at a Lonmin platinum mine.