S. African Union Leader Shot Dead at Platinum Mine

A union leader was shot dead and another wounded at Lonmin's Marikana platinum mine in South Africa on Monday amid heightened tensions after deadly strikes at the site last year.

Two men chased and shot dead a local shaft leader of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), then seriously wounded the union's treasurer, an NUM official said, on the same day the labor minister suggested a peacekeeping force to quell violence in the mining sector.

The shootings at the mine near Rustenburg, northwest of Johannesburg, occurred in the same community where police trying to contain a violent strike shot dead at least 34 miners last August in what they claimed was self-defense.

Key labor leaders have also been killed amid a fierce battle between the NUM and its rival the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) for members -- and bargaining rights -- in the world's top platinum-producing region.

NUM regional coordinator Mxhasi Sithethi said two unknown men had approached the union's shaft leader as he emerged from a morning meeting and fired at him.

"There was no confrontation. Nothing," Sithethi said.

"He ran back to the office. They followed him and killed him."

The victim, whose identity has not been released, suffered at least two gunshot wounds to the head.

The attackers then shot the union treasurer at least six times when he confronted them, said Sithethi.

He claimed 13 spent bullet cartridges were found on the scene.

NUM national spokesman Frans Baleni said he "can't speculate" if the turf war with the AMCU led to the killings.

Lonmin confirmed two of its employees had been shot, saying one had been killed while the other was "in a critical condition".

Police also confirmed the shooting, but gave few details.

Powerful umbrella union COSATU, which includes the NUM, said "anarchy" in the area had "created a prevailing sense of impunity".

Last month an AMCU regional organizer was shot dead in a tavern, sparking a two-day illegal strike at the mine. Two brothers reportedly linked to the NUM were killed on the same weekend.

And last October another NUM leader was shot dead.

"No one is being arrested and not a single person has been convicted for any of these murders," COSATU said.

Lonmin shares fell over four percent on the London stock exchange Monday to 282.50 pounds.

Labor Minister Mildred Oliphant meanwhile proposed a force to contain violence in the mining sector in a meeting with unions.

"If there is a need to deploy that peacekeeping force we have to do so in the mining sector as a whole," she said.

The NUM, an ally of South Africa's ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), used to be the dominant union in the platinum belt.

But its membership in the region has dwindled amid accusations its relationship with mine management was too cozy.

The union says it has lost 44,000 members nationally to the AMCU in the last two years, though local media put the figure at 70,000.

The AMCU now represents 70 percent of Lonmin's 28,000 workers, and has lobbied aggressively to have the NUM's offices at the mine shut down.

A labor court last week halted an eviction until July 16 to allow the NUM to prove it has regained majority membership.

But the union has also lost majority status at neighboring mines Anglo American Platinum and Impala Platinum, and union leaders have used increasingly militant vocabulary in their bids to win worker support.

Mining and related sectors in South Africa, worth 468 billion rand (35 billion euros, $46 billion) in 2010, account for around 20 percent of Africa's largest economy and 60 percent of exports.

Mines are the country's largest private-sector employer, and their unionized workforce is a large source of votes for the ANC.

President Jacob Zuma last week last week called for calm in the mining sector after economic growth hit a fresh low of 0.9 percent in the first quarter of 2013.

In the wake of strikes at Anglo American Platinum to protest restructuring layoffs, Zuma urged workers and mine managers to resolve their disputes without violence or stoppages.