* Amplats becomes latest target of labour unrest
* Stick-waving marchers block access to shafts
* ANC renegade Malema pillories Zuma leadership
* Platinum prices spike, Amplats shares fall
By Siphiwe Sibeko and David Dolan
BATHOPELE MINE, South Africa, Sept 12 (Reuters) – Labour
unrest sweeping through South Africa’s mining sector hit top
world platinum producer Anglo American Platinum on
Wednesday, with stick-waving miners blockading roads leading to
shafts and calling for a shut-down of operations.
At the firm’s Bathopele shaft in the heart of the platinum
belt, a column of 1,500 chanting marchers confronted riot police
who were backed by armoured vehicles. The protesters jeered at
workers inside the plant, a repeat of action taken on Monday at
rival Lonmin’s nearby Marikana mine, where
police shot dead 34 protesters on Aug. 16.
“We are here to say to the men that work here that you must
join us in the strike. We are not here to fight,” one man, who
said he was an employee of Anglo American Platinum, also known
as Amplats, told Reuters. He declined to give his name.
The platinum price jumped as much as 3 percent to $1,654.49
an ounce, its highest since early April, amid fears of more
disruption to supplies of the precious metal used in jewellery
and vehicle catalytic converters.
Continued…
