* Toyota’s Durban plant hit by four-day walkout
* Kumba Iron Ore stops output at giant Sishen pit
* Amplats conveyors set on fire
* Zuma under pressure before ANC leadership vote
By Wendell Roelf
CAPE TOWN, Oct 4 (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp said
it had been forced to shut its Durban vehicle plant for four
days because of an illegal pay strike, indicating that South
Africa’s manufacturing sector may not be spared the wildcat
stoppages sweeping its mines.
The Japanese car giant said it had settled the dispute on
Thursday and expected a return to work on Friday, but declined
to say what pay rise had been agreed. Production of nearly 2,500
vehicles was lost from the plant, half of whose output goes to
export.
Elsewhere, Kumba Iron Ore, one of the world’s top
10 producers, said it had suspended production at its huge
Sishen mine after striking employees blocked access to the pit.
After two months of labour unrest, as many as 75,000 miners,
or 15 percent of the sector’s workforce, are out on strike,
burdening already sluggish growth only three months before an
internal leadership election in the ruling African National
Congress (ANC).
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