South African President Jacob Zuma cut short a visit to a regional summit in neighboring Mozambique on Friday in order to visit a platinum mine where at least 34 people were killed in clashes between striking miners and police, local media reported.
"Zuma is to cut short his attendance of the 32nd SADC summit in Maputo, Mozambique in order to visit Rustenburg this afternoon," his spokesman Mac Maharaj said in a statement.
"The president is concerned about the violent nature of the protest," he said.
The president is also "sympathetic to calls for a commission of inquiry," Maharaj said.
At least 34 people are known to have been killed at the mine in Marikana, some 100 kilometers northwest of Johannesburg, but police ministry spokesman Zweli Mnisi said the final death toll had yet to be confirmed.
The strike at the Lonmin-owned mine began last week when workers walked out demanding a pay increase and was exacerbated by tensions between two rival trade unions.
One of the unions, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, accused the security forces of staging a massacre, but police said they were forced to open fire on the miners.
There has been unrest at the Marikana mine before. Last year, Lonmin, one of the world's largest platinum producers, sacked some 9,000 workers after a strike.
