South Africa miners call for national strike

The leader of a major protest by South African platinum miners has called for a national strike in the sector, deepening an industrial crisis that has escalated over the past few months, and spurred violence that left 45 people killed at the Lonmin operated Marikana mine.

Miners from the Anglo American platinum mine (Amplats), joined forces with their colleagues from Marikana at the Blesbok stadium in the heart of the platinum belt near Rustenburg, 100km northwest of Johannesburg on Thursday in a show of solidarity against low wages.

The coming together of miners from the two mining giants is an attempt to bring to a halt all mining in the area.

“On Sunday, we are starting with a general strike here in Rustenburg,” protest leader Mametlwe Sebei told the crowd.

The action was designed to “bring the mining companies to their knees”, he said, to mild applause from the crowd, which was armed with sticks and machetes.

The strikers insisted their push for a sharp hike in wages was peaceful – even after the August 16 police shooting of 34 protesters at Lonmin’s platinum mine. “There should be no blood,” one placard read.

The wave of labour unrest in Africa’s biggest economy has spiralled beyond the control of the government and unions into a grass-roots rebellion by black South Africans who have seen little improvement in their lives since apartheid ended 18 years ago.

Negotiations

Meanwhile, negotiations restarted on Thursday at a site near the Lonmin mine. Workers, bosses and unions sat down to finally try and hammer out an agreement to the deadlock after several weeks of strikes that have brought the country’s northwest mining belt to a partial standstill.

Initially the Lonmin striking workers had previously said weren’t willing to negotiate on their big pay rise demand of R12,500 (or just over $1,500) but now say they would be a bit flexible on that point.

From Lonmin’s point of view they had said they wanted the striking miners to sign a peace accord in which they would promise that there would be no more intimidation or violence, and then they would talk about wages, So they do appear to be inching slightly closer together,.

Earlier on Thursday, leaders from the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) called on South African President Jacob Zuma to preside over a meeting of the country’s mining industry.

“As AMCU we make a clarion call to the President of the Republic of South Africa, his Excellency Jacob Zuma, to call a mining indaba [gathering] on the state of the mining industry of South Africa,” said AMCU president Joseph Mathunjwa.

Zuma said on Thursday that illegal strikes and intimidation spreading through the mining industry would not help workers and make the “country worse off”.

Speaking to parliament, the president said that strikers’ concerns should be addressed within South Africa’s labour relations framework.

Worker demands

The miners, gathered at Blesbok stadium, meanwhile claimed they had handed Amplats a list of demands.

A group of more than 100 chanting, singing strikers, many rhythmically waving sticks and “knobkerry” clubs, accompanied protest leaders as they delivered a written memorandum laying out their demands to Amplats management offices near the stadium.

The document spells out demands for an increase of basic monthly pay to R12,500 ($1,500), plus for increased allowances that would take the total to R16,000 a month. That wage would be more than double their current salary and also more than double per capita GDP in the country.

They miners said they would not return to work until top management came to hear them out and introduced a basic pay hike.

Amplats said it suspended its Rustenburg operations on Wednesday over safety concerns after workers were intimidated with the threat of violence in the latest unrest to hit the key mining industry.

The plight of miners living in tin shacks while they produce the raw materials for luxury goods under dangerous conditions has put a spotlight on the South African government’s failure to meet basic needs like clean water and decent health care.

It has also drawn attention to the widening gap between a small black elite that lives sumptuously while many South Africans worry where their next meal will come from.

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