Police have not yet been able to establish whether two men arrested in possession of dangerous weapons during a strike at Barberton Mines in Mpumalanga were part of a plot to assassinate a top National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) official. According to NUM deputy regional chairperson, Makhosonke Magudulela, the men were arrested shortly after he was forced to cut short his speech on Thursday. This was after he heard there were five “assassins” in the crowd of the mineworkers he was addressing.
