SOUTH AFRICA’S National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) demanded arrests over the torching of non-strikers’ homes, which has seen at least four people killed in a pay dispute at a Sibanye Stillwater mine.

The union warned that at least 40 homes have been burned down with four NUM members “brutally killed” and 13 vehicles torched since November in a “violent strike” by an alternative union.

It blamed members of the breakaway Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), which continued the strike after the NUM agreed a three-year deal following “a marathon of pay negotiations” at the Blybank mine.

NUM Carletonville regional secretary Mbuyiseli Hibana welcomed an investigations team established by the South African Police Services Minister Bheki Cele.

“We welcome the increasing of policing in and around the areas of Carletonville, particularly in Blybank,” he said. “We demand an immediate arrest of perpetrators. 

“Our members have been living in fear from November 21 2018 to date due to intimidation, harassment and death threats. Fearing for the continued threats the company has housed them away from their houses and families. 

“Attempts to bring peace and stability in Blybank and in residential areas surrounding Driefontein have not been successful.”