South Africa's NUM union says Lonmin activist shot dead

Reuters
A miner leads his fellow workers as they chant slogans during the one-year anniversary commemorations to mark the killings of 34 striking platinum miners shot dead by police outside the Lonmin's Marikana platinum mine in Rustenburg, 100 km (62 miles) northwest of Johannesburg, August 16, 2013. Credit: Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Friday one of its shaft chairpersons at platinum producer Lonmin was shot dead in the restive platinum belt town of Marikana, an incident sure to stoke labour tensions. "He was killed last night. We don't know why at this stage, but there appears to be a resurgence of violence in the area," NUM spokesman Lesiba Seshoka told Reuters. NUM has had tens of thousands of members in the platinum shafts poached by a rival group, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, in a turf war that killed dozens of people in 2012. Sporadic killings have occurred this year.