Mine workers sing at the Lonmin mine near Rustenburg, South Africa, Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012. Miners and their families welcomed expelled politician Julius Malema on Saturday as he told the thousands who gathered at the site where 34 miners were killed this week that South African police had no right to fire the live bullets that killed them. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
August 19, 2012 - 10:10 AM
MARIKANA, South Africa - Lonmin PLC says striking miners must return to work Monday or face being fired from the platinum mine where rivalry between unions exploded into violence that has killed 44 people in a week. Thirty-four were gunned down by police in the worst display of state violence since apartheid ended in 1994.
About 3,000 rock-drill operators have been striking among the mine's 28,000-strong labour force. Threats of violence kept many more away.
Strikers said Sunday they were not sure what they would do. One said he would return to work if others did so.
Lonmin fired all 9,000 workers when a similar dispute over union representation closed down its nearby Karee mine last year. Then it rehired most back.
South Africa produces about 75 per cent of the world's platinum.
News from © The Associated Press, 2012