South African police are yet to release the death toll from a clash today between striking miners and armed officers.
Footage of the confrontation shows miners being mown down by gunfire near the platinum mine outside the town of
Police concede there was loss of life, but will not provide specifics.
Eyewitness and journalist, Taurai Maduna, said there was a lot of commotion as they advanced.
“Police started moving into the crowds, they put in barbed wire to fence them off, they threw tear gas - and the next thing it was just firing and I heard gunshots.”
Maduna says he's never witnessed anything like it – he counted 18 bodies on the ground.
South African Press Association journalist, Molaole Montsho, said the police believed they were coming under attack.
But Sky News reporter, Alex Crawford, said the killings will shine a light on police behaviour. “The police are at the centre of many, many allegations of corruption, of their authority being challenged and how they handle riot situations like this - and I think it will make people take a sharp intake of breath and wonder very much about the police once again, and how they’re handling their authority.”
Earlier violence at the mine has claimed 10 lives, including two police officers.
Alex Crawford says the killings today have been a shocking development and are taking people back to the bad old days of township riots.
-RBG New/Newstalk ZB
