* Hundreds hold rally at platinum belt stadium
* Strikes raise worries about government finances
* Wildcat strikers sacked at Bokoni mine
By Jon Herskovitz
JOHANNESBURG, Oct 6 (Reuters) – Hundreds of striking South
African workers rallied on Saturday to press Anglo American
Platinum to revoke its decision to fire 12,000 wildcat strikers
amid a wave of labour strife sweeping Africa’s largest economy.
Nearly 50 people have been killed since August in labour
conflict in the crucial mining sector, and President Jacob
Zuma’s ruling ANC is struggling to damp down some of the worst
social unrest since the end of apartheid in 1994.
Several hundred workers, watched by police in armoured
vehicles and a helicopter, held a two-hour rally in a soccer
stadium near the platinum belt hub city of Rustenburg, 120 km
(70 miles) northwest of Johannesburg, and were urged to fight
for their jobs.
The hastily arranged rally, held under a blazing sun and
punctuated by songs of labour struggle, was more subdued than
other protests over the past weeks where strikers brandished
machetes and clubs, threatening to set fire to mine shafts.
Workers said the termination notice, delivered to many by
SMS, caught them by surprise on Friday, despite repeated threats
from Amplats that it planned to discipline strikers.
Continued…
