AN ESTIMATED 36 people have died at the Lonmin Marikana mine following violent clashes which started last Friday.

At least 10 mineworkers were killed and more than 20 injured yesterday during a confrontation with police.

National Union of Mineworkers general secretary Frans Baleni last night estimated the death toll at the mine at 36.

Police yesterday advanced on the hill where striking workers were peacefully gathering and, as workers started moving, fired teargas at them. It appears that some workers then shot at the police using live ammunition.

The police in turn opened fire with live ammunition.

Baleni said NUM national leadership would be visiting the mine today.

A defiant mineworker, who was lying on the ground bleeding from a gunshot wound, kept on swearing at police and urged them to finish him off, saying: "Kill us to please abelungu (whites)."

At least 10 people, including two security guards and two police officers, had died in the violence earlier.

Figures by different media ranged between 10 and 38 with no confirmation from authorities.

Police yesterday could not confirm the number of fatalities and were expected to hold a media briefing this morning.

Yesterday no one, not even the police, seemed to know anything about the identity of these men.

It seemed the veil of secrecy was due to fear of victimisation.

Police spokesman Captain Dennis Adriao told Sowetan that detectives were were still investigating.

"At the moment we have not established the identities of the deceased," Adriao said.

The workers have been on an illegal strike since Friday, demanding that their salaries be increased from R4,000 to R12,500 a month.

Some of the striking workers claimed yesterday they were attacked by leaders of the National Union of Mineworkers. They accused NUM leaders of collaborating with their enemy, the employer.

"We were attacked when we were on our way to a meeting. Those NUM leaders killed us because they are protecting the employer," said a worker who identified himself as Tau Tau.

"They (NUM leaders and the employer) have called the police to come and kill us. We are not afraid because we work underground and our lives are forever at risk," said worker Andries Tsinyao.

An unidentified worker, who addressed his fellow strikers, dared the police to attack them and "we will see who would be left on the ground".

Vusimuzi Mathunjwa, president of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, failed to persuade workers to disperse while the union entered into negotiations with the employer.

President Jacob Zuma said he was alarmed and deeply saddened at the way the dispute had degenerated to the tragic loss of so many lives.

"We call upon the labour movement and business to work with government to arrest the situation before it deteriorates any further."

Zuma said he had instructed law enforcement agencies to do everything possible in their power to bring the situation under control and to bring the perpetrators of violence to book.

The workers refused to back down. They have vowed that they would not return to work until their demands were met.

They told Mathunjwa to go and get management to address them.

Minister Nathi Mthethwa's office said that police at the mine did their best in a volatile situation.

"The Minister [Mthetwa] is now considering requesting the President to institute a full inquiry into this whole situation, not just around what happened today but holistically at this situation," said spokesman Zweli Mnisi. - Additional reporting by Moipone Malefane