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MARIKANA, South Africa — Reuters – South African police fired tear gas on Wednesday to disperse protesters near a mine run by top platinum producer Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), the first sign of unrest spreading after strikers at smaller rival Lonmin won big pay rises.
Within hours of Lonmin agreeing to a pay increase of 11 to 22 per cent, workers at neighbouring mines were calling for similar hikes, suggesting more trouble in store after six weeks of industrial action that has claimed 45 lives and threatened Africa’s biggest economy.
“We want management to meet us as well now,” an organizer for the militant Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) at Impala Platinum, the number two producer, told Reuters.
“We want 9,000 rand ($1,098 U.S.) a month as a basic wage instead of the roughly 5,000 rand we are getting.” He declined to be named for fear of recriminations from the company. Lonmin shares soared more than 9 per cent to levels not seen since police shot dead 34 miners on August 16 outside its Marikana mine, 100 km northwest of Johannesburg.
However, the deal could add 13 per cent to the company’s recurrent costs, plus an additional $10-million for a one-off back-to-work bonus, Nomura said in a note. Lonmin is already battling with a shaky balance sheet and unprofitable shafts.
The settlement has also sown more strife in the area, with police clashing with an angry crowd in a township at a nearby Amplats mine outside the “platinum belt” city of Rustenburg.
Police spokesman Dennis Adriao said officers fired tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets to disperse an “illegal gathering”. He had no information on any casualties.
A labour activist said workers who have stayed off the job at Amplats, which accounts for 40 per cent of global supplies of the metal used for catalytic converters in cars, were inspired by Lonmin and would press on with their demands.
“The mood here is upbeat, very celebratory,” Mametlwe Sebei, a community representative near Rustenburg, told Reuters. “Victory is in sight. The workers are celebrating Lonmin as a victory.”
Amplats had to suspend its Rustenburg operations last week because of the unrest. Those mines restarted on Tuesday but the company admitted many workers had stayed away.
Platinum prices rose a little on Wednesday after falling 2.6 per cent a day earlier on news of the Lonmin deal.
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