Malema: Cops threatened to kill me
38 minutes ago
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Expelled ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema claims police threatened to kill him at Wonderkop Stadium when he was denied entry.
Gold Fields won't 'entertain' demands
2012-09-18 13:18
The CEO of gold producer Gold Fields says the company is unwilling to consider strikers' demands for a minimum wage of R12 500 a month for now.
Lonmin offers return-to-work bonus
2012-09-18 10:31
Striking Lonmin workers have been offered a once-off bonus in the hope of getting them back to work, a National Union of Mineworkers negotiator says.
Lonmin (LMI LN) platinum mineworkers reject offer according to mediator
- Lonmin workers reject one-off payment offer for return to work.
- Lonmin workers demand 10,900 Rand basic pay for general workers.
- Lonmin workers demand 10,900 Rand basic pay for general workers.
Reaction details:
- Co Shares prices immediately spiked down 2.20% to trades GBP 6.2750.
10:29 - UK Equities - Source: Newswires
http://fredw-catharsisours.blogspot.com/2012/09/doug-noland-missive-qe-forever-and.html
| Police fire tear gas at South Africa miners |
Confrontation begins when striking workers at Marikana mine reject police demand to hand over their weapons.
Last Modified: 15 Sep 2012 08:34
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Military helicopters and armoured police cars have been circling the Marikana mine in South Africa after a gathering this morning turned violent, Al Jazeera's Haru Mutasa reports.
The confrontation began on Saturday when police asked the ringleaders of a group of miners armed with machetes, sticks, and pistols to hand over their weapons.
Many of them refused, and police then fired rubber bullets and tear gas into the crowd, causing it to disperse.
Striking miners at the site are now setting up roadblocks and lighting fires to prevent the armoured police vehicles from passing through.
The show of force follows a South African government vow on Friday to halt illegal protests and disarm strikers who have stopped work at one gold and six platinum mines northwest of Johannesburg. Earlier on Saturday about 500 police raided the hostels near Marikana in an effort to seize arms. The incident is the second altercation between miners and police since August 16, when police shot 34 miners dead at the site. Security clampdown The South African government announced a security clampdown on Friday in a bid to deal with five weeks of industrial action that has hit the country's platinum sector. Hours after the announcement on Friday, South African media reports said police fired tear gas to disperse striking miners outside an Aquarius Platinum mine near Rustenburg, north-west of Johannesburg. Jeff Radebe, the justice minister, announced a crackdown on "illegal gatherings" and the carrying of weapons, but failed to say how the police would put it into effect. "Our government is making a clarion call to all South African to desist from all these illegal acts and must work with law enforcement agencies to ensure that this situation is brought to normality," he said. 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. A second day of negotiations failed on Friday at a site near the Lonmin mine, when workers, bosses and unions sat down to try and hammer out a wage agreement. Lonmin offered on Friday to increase striking workers' salaries to less than half their demanded basic wage, despite calls for a national strike in the sector, deepening an industrial crisis that has escalated over the past few months.
Frans Baleni, the general secretary for the National Union of Mineworkers, said Lonmin had proposed a pay hike for entry-level workers to around 5,500 rand ($660) from 4,600 rand - a fraction of the 12,500 rand demanded by the workers.
http://www.fin24.com/Companies/Mining/Chamber-Mining-industry-not-in-crisis-20120916"We are not interested," striker representative Molifi Phele said as hundreds demonstrators chanted and danced around him in the heart of the 'platinum belt'. "What he is offering cannot buy you anything. All we want is 12,500." The miners at Lonmin's Marikana operations in the heart of the platinum belt near Rustenburg, 100km northwest of Johannesburg, have refused to go back to work until they receive a basic pay hike to 12,500 rand. Wage negotiates are set to start again on Monday. and....... Chamber: Mining industry not in crisisRELATED ARTICLESNUM: We haven't lost controlFourth mine shuts down, govt warns strikersNum: Malema is a 'dangerous fellow'Aquarius Platinum suspends operationsRand weaker on continued mining unrestLonmin tables new wage offerJohannesburg - Industrial action does not necessarily mean the entire mining industry is in crisis, the Chamber of Mines said on Sunday.
"We need to understand the causes of the industrial action that is taking place when we have existing wage agreements," spokesman Vusi Mabena said.
Strikes were not taking place across the sector, he said. They were restricted to platinum and possibly to gold.
It was a "serious generalisation" to say that the industry was in crisis.
"When the strikes took place, the platinum industry was going through hard times," he said.
There were not enough buyers, and a task team from the government and industry had been investigating alternative markets in order for the platinum industry to be sustainable.
"When the demand [for a salary of R12,500 a month] came in, there were already concerns about the sector," he said.
On Saturday, the Bench Marks Foundation criticised the government, police, and platinum producer Lonmin for firing rubber bullets at residents and protesters in the Nkaneng informal settlement in Marikana.
"I am shocked and extremely angry to hear today [Saturday] that the police are out in full force and people have phoned me to tell me that workers have been shot at," the foundation's chairman Bishop Jo Seoka, who is also the president of the SA Council of Churches, said in a statement
"In addition, six women walking in Marikana were shot [at] with rubber bullets, and one is in hospital," he said.
Seoka was concerned that the hard work to maintaining peace could end because of the violence.
He said the government and Lonmin should be held accountable.
"The workers have been peaceful, [have] not injured anyone.... Police asked the workers to give in any weapons. This they did and then they were shot at. This is a gross violation of human rights," he said.
The Bench Marks Foundation is an independent faith-based organisation monitoring corporate performance, and is involved in the mediation process at the mine.
On Saturday, several residents claimed they were injured when police fired rubber bullets at them.
One resident Melita Ramasedi said she was wounded while watching police breaking up a crowd of protesters.
"I am deeply hurt by this situation. A police nyala drove past us, we were a group of women and others ran away.
"I just stood there, watching and they shot me in my leg," she said showing her bleeding leg.
Another woman, Ntombe Ncence told journalists she was at the entrance of a spaza shop when she was hit by a rubber bullet.
"I do not understand why the police officers shot me. I was knocking at the door of a shop and police officers inside a nyala shot my leg."
Earlier, protesters gathered at the site where 34 people were killed by police on August 16.
Police used rubber bullets and pepper spray to disperse the crowd.
Police also raided a nearby hostel, where a number of people were arrested and a variety of weapons were seized, including knobkerries and pangas.
Brigadier Thulani Ngubane said the arrests were part of a disarmament operation.
SA caught in Zuma, Malema war, says DA
2012-09-15 14:10
The current wave of violence by miners is the product of a war between President Jacob Zuma and expelled ANCYL president Julius Malema, DA spokesperson Mmusi Maimane says.
SOUTH AFRICA
Court order 'allows Lonmin to fire strikers'
2012-09-15 14:10
Lonmin has been granted a final order from the Labour Court declaring the strike at its Marikana mine unprotected, a report says.
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