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Johannesburg - Sibanye Gold has dismissed claims that five non-striking members at its Beatrix mine were attacked by striking National Union of Mineworkers members, the company said on Friday.
"Sibanye Gold Protection Services have subsequently investigated the allegations and have confirmed that there is no record of the incident at the operations, or of the alleged victims at any of the hospitals and clinics in the region," company CEO Neal Froneman said in a statement.
He said claims were investigated with the police, where necessary.
"The company's protection wing maintained a visible presence throughout the strike, and had set up a 24-hour hotline for employees to report cases of intimidation or other illegal activity," Froneman said.
On Thursday night, the Association of Mining and Construction Workers (Amcu) said five of its members were beaten up by striking NUM members.
"Our members were attacked by members of the National Union of Mineworkers [NUM] in the morning, they have been taken to hospital," said Amcu secretary Jeff Mphahlele.
"Our members are not on a strike. We are still negotiating. We expect our members to report for duty without being intimidated."
On Friday afternoon, the NUM denied the incident.
"The NUM has investigated the matter and found that no such incident did take place during the very peaceful industrial action conducted by the peaceful union, NUM in the gold sector," said spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka.
"The police have no record of such injured people and he [Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa] has failed dismally to point such people to the media. He has failed to tell where such injured people have been hospitalised."
Lesiba accused Mathunjwa of trying to provoke violence.
Froneman said while there were sporadic incidents in the past week, the strike was relatively calm and peaceful.
