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Pretoria - Mineral Resource Minister Susan Shabangu said on Friday that violence and murder could not be used to coerce people to join a union.
"We are calling for a peaceful co-existence of unions in the mining industry; let freedom of association prevail," Shabangu told the NUM central committee meeting held in Pretoria.
"The NUM is not the enemy of Amcu and Amcu is not and should not be the enemy of NUM."
Shabangu said the unions needed to join hands as they had one common class enemy -- "monopoly capital".
The mining sector has lately seen fierce rivalry between the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) that has led to to violent labour unrest in North West.
Shabangu said this was a testing time for NUM, but the union needed to represent its members without fear or favour.
