After 12 hours of silence, the police force minister Nathi Mthethwa confirmed that 30 miners had been killed after police tried to move 3000 striking drill operators, with the use of automatic weapons, reported Reuters.
Speaking to Talk Radio 702, Mthethwa said, "A lot of people were injured and the number keeps on going up."
The incident, which occurred 60 miles northwest of Johannesburg, has caused shock and outrage, with many likening it to the 1960 Sharpeville massacre.
Today's editorial in the Sowetan (a newspaper named after the biggest black township), questioned whether anything had changed since 1994.
It wrote - 'It has happened in this country before where the apartheid regime treated black people like objects," the paper, named after South Africa's biggest black township. It is continuing in a different guise now.'
In a statement, President Jacob Zuma said he was "shocked and dismayed". He added, "we believe there is enough space in our democratic order for any dispute to be resolved through dialogue without any breaches of the law or violence."
