Johannesburg - A woman shop steward was shot and killed at the Rowlands shaft of Lonmin [JSE:LON] outside Rustenburg on Monday, the National Union of Mines (NUM) said.
"She was shot and killed next to the Rowland shaft outside the NUM offices," spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka said. "She was walking to work when she was shot at."
North West police confirmed that a woman was shot and killed at the shaft. Brig. Thulani Ngubane said police could not confirm if it was an NUM shop steward. Police were still attending to the crime scene, he said.
The incident is stirring worries of fresh labour tension in the troubled platinum belt where a violent union dispute has raged over the last year.
Police said the shooting took place near a shaft where rival unions have offices, but would not speculate on whether it was related to a deadly turf battle between the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu).
"The details and reasons for the shooting are not yet clear, but the South African Police Services are investigating," said Lonmin spokesperson Sue Vey.
A 49-year-old Marikana worker was shot dead at the end of July, which prompted union leaders to say the violence had gotten out of hand in the area, which produces most of the world's platinum.
More than 50 people have been killed in the platinum belt in the last year, including 34 strikers at Lonmin's Marikana mine, shot dead by police on August 16 2012.
It was the deadliest security incident since apartheid ended in 1994.