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Striking miners dance and cheer after they were informed of a 22 percent wage increase offer outside Lonmin's Marikana mine, September 2012 REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

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“Despite the company’s repeated calls for employees to return to work, we have continued to experience attendance levels of less than 20%,” the company said in a statement distributed via the Stock Exchange News Service.

Disciplinary hearings for striking workers had been completed. Affected employees would be informed of the outcome on Friday, and would have three working days to lodge an appeal.

“Approximately 12,000 striking employees chose not to make representations, nor attend the hearings, and have therefore been dismissed in their absence,” the company said.

Work stopped three weeks ago in the Rustenburg area, and the company had so far not been able to resolve the illegal strike.

Four mines in the Rustenburg area did not have enough staff to operate, although the Rustenburg concentrators, smelters, refineries and the Bathopele Mine continued to operate normally, Amplats said.

Strikes had also spread to its Union and Amandebult operations, where workers had presented similar demands for salary increases.

These mines were not in operation because of the strike.

Amplats had so far lost around R700 million in revenue as a result of the reduced platinum production.

Total lost platinum production amounted to 39,000 ounces, the company said.

MOUNTING PRESSURE ON GOVERNMENT

Two months of labour unrest has spread from mines to other parts of Africa’s biggest economy, causing political problems for President Jacob Zuma and his ruling African National Congress (ANC), the veteran liberation movement long closely tied to unions.

Shell said on Friday it could not honour fuel delivery contracts around Johannesburg because of a two-week truckers’ strike. Police shot dead another striking miner overnight, taking the death toll to 48 in the worst labour unrest since the end of apartheid.

The rand fell 2% to within sight of a three-year low against the dollar amid fears the (ANC) is powerless to manage the spreading labour unrest.

Zuma has been criticised for his low-key response, especially after police killed 34 strikers at Lonmin’s Marikana platinum mine on Aug. 16.

In a speech to business leaders late on Thursday he put a positive spin on the situation, stressing that since the end of white-minority rule South Africans have shown “the capacity to overcome difficulties when we work together”.

“We should not seek to portray ourselves as a nation that is perpetually fighting,” he said.

However, with an ANC leadership run-off looming in December, Nelson Mandela’s 100-year-old liberation movement is preoccupied with its own divisions and Zuma is unlikely to take any action to stabilise the economy that could upset his political allies in the unions.

“In the build-up to the election, the government is unlikely to come out with any clear policy directives,” said Simon Freemantle, an analyst at Standard Bank in Johannesburg.

Reflecting such concerns, Moody’s cut South Africa’s credit rating last week, and the intensifying strikes in the mining sector and elsewhere are raising very real fears of a big hit to already sluggish economic growth for this year.

Finance Minister Pravi Gordhan has already said he will have to cut his 2,7% growth forecast for 2012 when he delivers an interim budget on Oct. 24.

MINER SHOT

More than 75,000 miners, or 15% of the workforce in a sector that accounts for 6% of output, have been out on unofficial strikes and tensions with security forces and mining bosses are running high.

Near the “platinum belt” city of Rustenburg, 120km northwest of Johannesburg, workers said a miner was killed by a rubber bullet fired by police overnight.

“He was shot here by the police,” Mbubhu Lolo, a striker from Anglo American Platinum, also known as Amplats, told Reuters, pointing to his midriff.

Police would not confirm the cause of the death, although the ground nearby was strewn with spent rubber-bullet shell casings and teargas canisters after clashes involving water cannon the previous evening.

VIOLENCE NEAR AMPLATS

On Friday, protesters in a shanty town near the Amplats mine barricaded streets with rocks and burning tyres, watched by a contingent of more than 30 riot police backed by armoured vehicles.

Earlier in the week, strikers torched an Amplats training centre and two conveyor belts, making it harder to restart operations when it does manage to resolve the standoff.

STRIKES ON OTHER MINES

AngloGold Ashanti, South Africa’s biggest bullion producer, has lost virtually all local production due to wildcat strikes, while rivals Gold Fields and Harmony Gold have also taken a hit.

Around 300 strikers at Kumba Iron Ore have also blockaded the company’s giant Sishen iron ore mine in the remote Northern Cape province.

SPREADING INTO MANUFACTURING SECTOR

The mining sector unrest has shaken investor confidence, and signs of it spreading into manufacturing — which accounts for 15% of output — and an expanding truckers’ strike have caused even more alarm.

“There is fuel available across the country, so the issue is not fuel supply, but the challenge is delivering it safely to our retail sites,” oil giant Shell said after invoking a "force majeure” clause that allows it to break contracts due to situations beyond its control.

Other petrol companies are holding their breath, especially around the commercial hub Johannesburg, but have not yet followed Shell’s move.

Raising the stakes in its two-week stoppage by 20,000 truckers, the SATAWU transport union said it wanted co-workers on South Africa’s railways and ports to strike next week, a development that would affect coal and other mineral shipments.

Coal output from one of the world’s biggest suppliers has so far been unaffected but any disruption could hit power utility Eskom, which is already struggling to prevent a repeat of a 2008 power crisis when the grid nearly collapsed. Some 85% of South Africa’s electricity is generated by coal-fired plants.

Many supermarkets and logistics firms are running on back-up plans because of the truckers’ strike.

US car giant General Motors said production at its Port Elizabeth plant on the south coast has been affected.

Toyota suffered a four-day wildcat outage at its Durban plant, although workers returned on Friday after securing a 5,4% pay rise.

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Comments

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Thu Jun 20 13:21:27 SAST 2013 ::

Oct 5, 2012

Lord-Have-Mercy

12000 mining jobs are up for graps
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Oct 5, 2012

DA-DBN-GUY

Now lets see where these 12000 will get their next meal and how long they will be able to support their families on their severance packages.
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Oct 5, 2012

ApelMankotsana

Mathosa ba rata go bereka dimaeneng ne!! Gape bontshi bja batho bao ba ba bolailego Marikana ke Mathosa....
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Oct 5, 2012

DA-DBN-GUY

I doubt the dude in the blue cap is smiling now!
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Oct 5, 2012

CumFast

It will be interesting How Cosatu and Zooma himself will respond to this.......
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Oct 5, 2012

DA-DBN-GUY

CumFast
It will be interesting How Cosatu and Zooma himself will respond to this.......

Now doubt there will be racial slurrs and comments made by theses two
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Oct 5, 2012

jnrb

Good! These guys signed a collective bargaining argreement a year ago and now merely want to exploit the situation on the back of Marikana and the general lack of direction in the country from politicians. Some people have an instinctive feeling for weakness in others. These guys took a gamble but got their fingers burned. There is no free lunch!
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Oct 5, 2012

Lord-Have-Mercy

These guys are going to kill Julius Malema with bare hands

Please Malema (Fuel) rescue these Jobless miners


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Oct 5, 2012

DA-DBN-GUY

Lord-Have-Mercy
These guys are going to kill Julius Malema with bare hands

Please Malema (Fuel) rescue these Jobless miners

Juju has been very quiet since his court appearance. I guess the thought of being imprisoned scared the cr@p out of him. Looks like his actions are speaking louder than his empty words
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Oct 5, 2012

sabza007

''Bosso ke Mang'' Ke Amplats.....Now who is this Boss. I am sorry, but these miners deserve it.They were fooled by their leaders. The strike was unprotected, violent and have been given warning numerous times. This means 12000 families will have a bleak Christmas. There are laws and Labours governing any Industry.
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