I have had reservations about the role of the police in averting the killings of the NUM leadership in the platinum belt in particular. It's now more than a year since the out-break of violence in the Platinum belt which started in February 2012 in Impala and has continued till today at Lonmin. At the centre of this violence is the killing of the union leadership; figures show that the NUM alone has lost more than ten shop-stewards in Rustenburg during this period.

What is sad on the one hand is that no arrests has being made by the police have been reported. This must raise eyesbrows given that these perpetrators probably live in Rustenburg and that they must be known. The Police have not only put their tails between their legs because of the public criticism against them on their killing for their killing of the workers on the August 16 last year but also seem to have collaborated with the NUM detractors over these murders; how else might one explain the absence of progress in solving these killings.

Recently, I heard an official from the police on national radio describing the most recent killing of the NUM shop-steward in Marikana as a sporadic incident. This is absurd in my view given the pattern of killings over more than twelve months. Clearly the killing of the NUM local leadership has not been taken serious by the police.

How can this important institution in the country fail to understand the root cause of this pattern of killings to an extent that it then described one such as sporadic? Where is the intelligence informing our police's response? If it was deployed to the platinum belt it could have gathered the scientific information that explains why the killing is only targeting only the NUM leadership.

I think the Police must take responsibility for not acting decisive in rooting out violence and the targeted killing of the NUM leadership.

Benson Ngqentsu is the NUM regional Organiser and the SACP's Brian Bunting District Secretary. He writes in his personal capacity

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