Police are investigating a case of murder after one of the investigators in the Gold One Modder East Operations Mine disciplinary hearings was killed on Tuesday evening.
The 55-year-old investigator was shot and killed while travelling with his family.
This is according to Gold One head of legal Ziyaad Hassam and the police, who spoke to Sunday World on Wednesday morning.
Asked who the slain investigator was, how the shooting happened and the motive behind it, Hassam said he could not provide details yet.
“The police are investigating a case of murder. [There are] no further details to provide at this stage,” said Hassam.
Suspects fled in black BMW
Gauteng police spokesperson Colonel Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi confirmed the shooting.
Hearing not concluded
Asked if a report on the disciplinary hearings of the suspended mineworkers has been concluded, Hassam said it was not.
“We had hoped for the report to be finalised yesterday [Tuesday] but it has not been finalised yet,” said Hassam.
“We hope to have it concluded in the coming days. Sadly, one of our investigators was shot and killed last night.”
Last week, Hassam said most of the employees involved in the hostage drama at a Gold One mine in Springs, east of Johannesburg pleaded guilty and were likely to be fired.
In October, 15 mineworkers held about 540 other miners hostage underground. The miners were held against their will from the evening of October 22 until October 25.
Gold One said at the time that miners belonging to the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) were responsible for the hostage.
However, Amcu dismissed the allegations, saying the workers had voluntarily decided to stage a sit-in underground.
Gauteng police spokesperson Brigadier Brenda Muridili said there were no updates in the kidnapping case that police opened against the miners who were behind the hostage.
