* Julius Malema calls for walkout “in all mines”
* Mine unrest has brewed political storm for President Zuma
* Lonmin strike rumbles on, workers intimidated by strikers
* Second illegal strike under way at Gold Fields
By Alvin Andrews
CARLETONVILLE, South Africa, Sept 11 (Reuters) – ANC
renegade Julius Malema called on Tuesday for a national strike
in South Africa’s mining sector, stirring fear of an escalation
in the labour unrest already buffeting the platinum and gold
industries in the continent’s largest economy.
The flagship sector has been hit by a walkout that
culminated in mid-August in violence between striking miners and
police that killed 44 people. Of these, 34 were miners shot in a
single day by police at the Marikana mine of Lonmin, the
world’s No. 3 platinum producer.
The so-called “Marikana massacre” has brewed a political
storm for President Jacob Zuma and his African National Congress
(ANC) government. Detractors accuse them of neglecting the
working masses who fought and shed blood to help achieve the end
of white-minority apartheid rule in 1994.
The industrial trouble rocking the platinum belt has spread
to gold, with a second illegal strike in as many weeks at a mine
run by world No. 4 bullion producer Gold Fields, where
15,000 workers downed their tools on Sunday night.
Continued…
