The dismissal of 840 workers at a Village Main Reef mine in Limpopo amounted to "political thuggery", says the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Friday.
It intended challenging the move, spokesman Lesiba Seshoka said.
"The NUM views the dismissals as political thuggery aimed at the president of the republic's pronouncement of 2011 as the year of job creation."
On Thursday, Village Main Reef said it had started to dismiss the employees after they took part in an unprotected strike, in the form of a go-slow at its Consolidated Murchison mine.
"The go-slow action over the last two weeks has negatively impacted on production from the underground operations at Cons Murch, with daily production achieved at around a third of normal production levels," Village said in a statement.
"The dispute arose in relation to certain historic overtime payments claimed by the employees resulting from their employment at Cons Murch, pre-Village ownership and involvement."
The mine produces antimony and gold.
Seshoka said the union had instructed it attorneys to intervene.
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