Mine guard savagely murdered

KwaZulu-Natal - The repercussions of the Marikana mine disaster has left its imprint across the country, with the brutal murder of a guard at a northern Zululand mine earlier this week.

His death is being linked by some to a strike at the mine, which has overtones of the Marikana and gold mine strikes.

Bhekisa Nxumalo, a security guard at Petmin’s Somkhele mine, near Mtubatuba in northern Zululand, had been looking forward to his annual leave next weekend.

The widowed father of five had been planning a trip to Nongoma for a celebration to welcome his first grandchild into the family.

Now his family has had to instead plan his funeral.

Nxumalo, 48, who had worked at the anthracite mine for more than five years, was hacked to death on Monday. His eyes had been gouged out, his stomach cut open and his intestines removed.

His murder came during an unprotected strike at the mine that began two weeks ago, despite the company having obtained a court interdict declaring it unlawful.

Workers remained adamant on Wednesday, saying they would not back down until their demands were met.

The 345 disgruntled workers, who are employed by a mine contractor, Sandton Plant Hire, are demanding a take-home salary of R10 000, or a gross salary of R15 000 a month. They earn between R4 000 and R6 000 a month.

A regional organiser of the National Union of Mine Workers, Bonga Ngwane, said the Marikana strike had set a “good precedent” for other mine workers. “The workers will strike for as long as they have to, until their demands are met,” he vowed.

Ngwane denied that Nxumalo’s murder was linked to the strike at the Somkhele mine.

Nxumalo’s colleague, a guard at the mine who has since gone into hiding in fear of his life after witnessing the murder, said yesterday that he and Nxumalo had been stationed near the mine’s entrance at about 10pm on Monday when three men, armed with pangas and bush knives, approached them.

“Before attacking Bhekisa, the suspects had asked us what were we doing at work during a strike,” he said. “I don’t think, though, that the suspects are mine workers.”

The guard, who would not be named, said Nxumalo had been getting ready to investigate sporadic power outages at the mine complex at the time.

“The electricity kept on going off and Bhekisa was about to go out when three men carrying weapons barged into the security room,” he said.

Two of the suspects pinned Nxumalo down while the other suspect grabbed the other guard. Two more men then walked in and demanded Nxumalo’s shotgun. “He gave it to them but then they just started stabbing him and hacking him with a bush knife. I managed to set myself free and I ran into nearby bushes,” the guard said.

“I could still hear them hacking Bhekisa as he cried out for help.”

He said when he returned to the security room with his supervisors, Nxumalo was already dead. Except for the shotgun, nothing else had been taken by the suspects.

Two suspects, aged 18 and 25, have been arrested after the murder, but have not yet been charged. “They’re still in detention pending the investigation and a murder case has been opened,” Captain Jabulani Mdletshe said.

When Nxumalo’s family went to Mtubatuba to identify his body yesterday his, ailing mother fainted at the sight.

Speaking from the mortuary, his younger brother, Aaron Nxumalo, said the family was struggling to come to terms with the brutal murder.

“My brother was a kind and gentle soul. He never bothered anybody,” he said, sobbing. “He loved his job and his family. He lived to provide for his five children since their mother died when they were very young.”

Nxumalo said he last spoke to his brother on Thursday and he had been excited about seeing his first grandchild.

“He was organising a traditional family function to officially welcome his grandchild into the family.”

Petmin spokesman, Jonathon Rees, said last night the company would offer financial and other support to Nxumalo’s family. - Daily News