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South African National Defence Force soldiers. File photo by Thembinkosi Dwayisa.

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The Presidency said in a short statement that the soldiers would be deployed to support the police “in the prevention and combating of crime as well as the maintenance of law and order in the Marikana area, North West province, and other areas around the country where needed”. 

The statement did not detail where the other areas may be.

The deployment will last from September 14 until January 31, 2013.

“The extended period will see the SANDF soldiers supporting the police during the festive season period around the country, as they did last year, 2011,” the statement read.

Earlier today, Lonmin miners returned to work in a jubilant mood - but Amplats issued an ultimatum to illegal strikers and Amplats protesters burned tyres, attacked shops and barricaded a road.

Workers at mines near Lonmin are demanding similar increases to that achieved by the nearly six-week-old strike at Marikana.

Striking workers from Anglo American Platinum’s (Amplats) Rustenburg mine barricaded a street with burning tyres and broke into local shops and stalls, settling them alight. A police helicopter hovered overhead and armed officers backed by armoured vehicles and water cannons were on stand-by close by.

Amplats, the world’s biggest platinum producer, is threatening legal action if the wildcat strikers do not return to work.

“We’ll buy 20 litres of petrol and if police get violent, we’ll make petrol bombs and throw them at them,” said Lawrence Mudise, an Amplats rock driller, holding up a sign demanding 16,700 rand in monthly pay.

"We’ll not go to work until we get what we want," another miner said.

Amplats said disruptions at its mine posed a threat to the site’s future.

“Operations are already under considerable economic pressure”, it said in a statement. “Any further delays in returning to work will only increase the risk to the long-term viability of these mines.”

Some 15,000 miners at the KDC West operation of Gold Fields, the world’s fourth largest bullion producer, are also holding an illegal strike.

The rank and file are discontent with the local leadership of the dominant National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) but their stance has been given fresh impetus by the Lonmin settlement.

Gold Fields said this week it would not entertain demands for a minimum wage of 12,500 rand despite losing 1,400 ounces a day — close to 15% of group production.

NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni said the union, a key political ally of the ruling African National Congress, was trying to help.

The stand-off threatens the NUM-dominated collective wage-bargaining that has typified South African industrial relations since apartheid.

“We are trying to narrow the demands and get them to go back while we negotiate,” Baleni told reporters.

Economists say the precedent set by Lonmin could spread through an economy already saddled with globally uncompetitive labour costs, stoking inflation and curbing the central bank’s ability to cut interest rates to boost sputtering growth.

Meanwhile, as the return to work began in earnest at Lonmin’s Marikana on Thursday morning, workers shouted “We are reporting for work”. The miners were in jubilant mood after securing wage rises of up to 22%.

“I feel very happy that I can go back to work now,” said Nqukwe Sabulelo, a rock-driller at the mine. “I’m going to live well now.”

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Comments

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Mon May 20 00:08:56 SAST 2013 ::

Sep 20, 2012

Zabaragast

Huh?
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Sep 20, 2012

CheeseBoy

Does this not remind you of the days of apartheid?

The only diffference here is that the ANC as a party that is supposed to represent and free black people from their quagmire is doing a very good job of continuing where the NATS left off.

Never mind Marikana, if anyone does not see what is happening here then we have a lot of blind people in Mzansi.
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Sep 20, 2012

KeRataBasadi

A police state is one in which the government exercises rigid and repressive controls over the social, economic, and political life of the population. A police state typically exhibits elements of totalitarianism and social control, and there is usually little or no distinction between the law and the exercise of political power by the executive.

The inhabitants of a police state experience restrictions on their mobility, and on their freedom to express or communicate political or other views, which are subject to police monitoring or enforcement. Political control may be exerted by means of a secret police force which operates outside the boundaries normally imposed by a constitutional state.


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Sep 20, 2012

Moloiwamagosha

Poor thinking, there is only one word that" they" use when thinking they are coming up with a solution"Ngikushaya manje".
I rest my case.
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Sep 20, 2012

CheeseBoy

The marikana debacle is yet another of many examples of how the so called liberation movement is nothing more than a wool pulled over the eyes of the masses.

They are filthy rich yet the millions who are crying out for equality and a better life are spat in the face by their Union leaders. I always said Vavi , Zuma and crew are rats. Pretending to care for the man on the street and at the same time eating away at their soul.
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Sep 20, 2012

KingOfHearts

what? tjo Zuma and ANC just shot themselves on the foot with that move.
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Sep 20, 2012

Phunyukabemphethe

Why Zuma approved them now, bear in mind that Soldiers does not use rubber bullet or water cannon to disperse the crowd. It remind me of apartheid government

Zuma proof his weakness ideas
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Sep 20, 2012

Msiphos00

Kusho kona ukuthi lamasosha awanamsebenzi ke Msholozi abahambe bayojola e Marikana, by the end of January there will be pregnant teenagers in and around Marikana
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Sep 20, 2012

CYBORICO

way to go president, hope the other areas include mangaung, we dont want expelled people starting a noise there, @ chesse boy
get that head out of the sand wena,
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Sep 20, 2012

NeoBaBe

Poor soldiers..
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