amcu thumb medium80 81The Star writes that Marikana is again degenerating into a death zone, with reports that the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) is at war with itself, as ethnic rivalry and a dispute over leadership turn into a bloodbath.  

At least two people have been gunned down, several others injured and many have fled after the intensified bloodshed, believed to have been carried out by Amcu members on each other.  The battle is said to be between the AmaBomvana and AmaMpondo tribes that hail from the former Transkei in the Eastern Cape.  They are allegedly fighting over leadership preferences in Amcu’s branch at Wonderkop in North West, which is the union's stronghold.  Amcu’s president Joseph Mathunjwa is accused of siding with the AmaBomvana faction and giving them preferential treatment to run the branch.  But a statement released by Mathunjwa’s a day after one of the murders seemed to suggest that the killings were being carried out by people from the outside.  In previous statements, Mathunjwa alluded to a third force that was targeting Amcu leaders in and around Rustenburg to destabilise the union and then set up a rival union.  Armed guards from Bidvest Protea Coin security have been seen guarding Amcu’s western branch offices.


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