South Africa mineworkers’ union says house of official petrol-bombed, victim seriously injured

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s National Union of Mineworkers says one of its officials was seriously injured in a petrol-bomb attack on his house amid ongoing unrest in the country’s vital mining industry.

The victim, who is now in intensive care, is the union’s top official at Anglo American Platinum’s Khomanani branch, the union said in a statement received Monday.

The union believes the attack on Friday was carried out by a hit squad that is deliberately intimidating its members in the platinum belt. Anglo American Platinum, whose workers have been striking for weeks, is the world’s largest producer of the precious metal used in jewelry.

Strikes demanding higher salaries began at a Lonmin Platinum mine in August and have since spread to several others in the mining sector.