* Amplats fires 12,000 wildcat strikers
* “Platinum belt” death toll nears 50
* Rand falls as labour unrest spreads
* Shell declares “force majeure”
By Agnieszka Flak
JOHANNESBURG, Oct 5 (Reuters) – Anglo American Platinum
(Amplats) fired 12,000 wildcat strikers on Friday, a
high-stakes attempt by the world’s biggest platinum producer to
push back at a wave of illegal stoppages sweeping through South
Africa’s mining sector and beyond.
The rand fell sharply after the announcement,
suggesting investors fear the sackings could worsen what is
shaping up to be the most damaging period of labour unrest in
Africa’s biggest economy since the end of apartheid in 1994.
Police shot dead one striking miner overnight, bringing the
death toll in two months of unrest to 48. Strikes have spread
beyond the mining sector, with Shell declaring on Friday that it
would not be able to honour contracts to deliver fuel near
Johannesburg because of a trucking strike.
The unrest is causing political trouble for President Jacob
Zuma and his ruling African National Congress (ANC), the veteran
liberation movement with long-standing ties to labour unions.
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