Six men believed to be masterminds behind the killings of Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu)leaders in Marikana in the North West have been charged with several counts of conspiracy to commit murder and attempted murder.
The suspects appeared briefly before the Brits Magistrate’s Court near Rustenburg. This follows the arrest of nine suspects, at Marikana and in the Eastern Cape, in a major police operation, at the weekend.
“These are the actual guys that we’re looking for, not only the trigger guys that just pull the trigger, but the guys who plot the whole thing. So we’re here in Rustenburg today, but also we’re gonna follow a similar sequence in the KZN killings,” said police spokesperson Vuyo Mhaga.
Amcu members attended the case in numbers.
“The work done by the police is very much appreciated. These are not Amcu members. They are NUM members. We have proof that they left Amcu. They were trying to recruit members of Amcu to join NUM, but they were failing to do that. Now they were using hitmen to kill our people,” an Amcu member said.
Six of the nine suspects are believed to be masterminds behind the killings in Marikana while the remaining three were trigger-pullers.
While police are pleased with the arrests they have made so far, they believe more arrests could be made.
The case has been postponed to February 21 for further police investigation. All six suspects will remain behind bars until the final outcome of the matter is determined.
