S. Africa platinum miners strike after death

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - Thousands of mine workers downed tools on Tuesday at South Africa's restive Lonmin mine after a union leader was shot dead in the restive platinum belt at the weekend.

"Lonmin operations are suspended this morning due to an illegal work stoppage," Lonmin spokeswoman Sue Vey told AFP.

Vey said work had stopped at all of the firm's 13 shafts in the northwestern Rustenburg mining town, the world's top platinum producing region.

The strike raises the spectre of further violence between rival unions and another body blow to the struggling South African economy.

Lonmin shares plunge six percent in early trading on the London Stock Exchange amid the industrial action.

The workers were singing and dancing on the streets, one of the striking workers, Molisi Phele, told AFP by phone.

The group was planning to gather at a hill where 34 miners were last year gunned down by police during a wildcat strike at Lonmin's Marikana mine.

Lonmin said the reasons for the strike were unclear and officials were locked in talks with worker representatives.

But the strike comes amid deadly tensions between the long-dominant National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and its now larger rival the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU).

Phele said workers were disgruntled that the company still recognised the powerful NUM despite its membership dwindling to less than half the Lonmin workforce.

"Workers are not going underground until they get a proper answer or the NUM offices are closed," said Phele.

An AMCU leader was gunned down on Saturday while he was watching football in a tavern in Rustenburg.

Mawethu Steven was due to testify at a judicial inquiry into last year's killings by police of striking mineworkers, an incident which shocked the world and brought back memories of apartheid police brutality.

Twin brothers were also shot dead Saturday at an informal settlement where some of the Lonmin mine workers live. NUM claim one of the slain is its representative.

A senior NUM official meanwhile alleged the Lonmin striking workers intimidated its representatives.

"There is intimidation and violence. They are singing and dancing and have blocked roads. Cars are being turned away. Its really bad," Mxhasi Sithethi, a regional coordinator for the NUM said from Rustenburg.

"One of the noises they are making is that NUM offices must close and they are toyi-toying (marching) next to the NUM offices," he said.

AMCU was recently recognised as the majority union at Lonmin and at neighbouring Anglo American Platinum, dislodging the powerful NUM from the top position.

The Lonmin strike is coming at the beginning of South Africa's so-called strike season when tough wage negotiations lead to tens of thousands of workers pouring onto the streets.