Union leader killed amid S.African platinum tensions

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - A union representative in South Africa's platinum belt has been gunned down before he could testify at an inquiry into violent strikes, a union leader said Sunday, amid ongoing tension in the country's platinum producing sector.

Gunmen shot dead the man, identified by local media as Steve Khululekile, on Saturday around 1100 GMT, said Jimmy Gama, national treasurer of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU).

"He was our regional organiser there in the North West," Gama told AFP, referring to the province where 34 people died in clashes with police in one day at the Lonmin platinum mine in August.

He was a Lonmin employee and involved with the local branch of the powerful National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) until he was dismissed following a dispute in 2011, said Gama.

Gama hinted that the assailants may have been NUM supporters.

"They were associated with another union... Of course there is one union that we are in competition with in this area."

Khululekile was due to testify before a commission looking into violence at last year's killings that has already been clouded by other deaths.

In March, a traditional healer who had reportedly performed rituals that would protect striking miners before last year's clashes, was killed.

And two other witnesses have committed suicide, according to local media.

A NUM leader from the same area was shot dead at his house last October.