* Marikana miners dismiss Lonmin offer
* Govt says to crack down on illegal gatherings, weapons
* Few details of how to ensure security
* Rand, bonds starting to feel ripples
By Mish Molakeng
MARIKANA, South Africa, Sept 14 (Reuters) – Wildcat strikers
at Lonmin’s Marikana mine rejected a pay offer on
Friday, dimming prospects of ending five weeks of industrial
action that has swept through South Africa’s platinum sector and
laid bare the power struggle in the ruling ANC.
Workers camped on a rocky outcrop at the mine, where police
shot dead 34 protesters last month, dismissed the offer as way
below the 12,500 rand ($1,500) a month demanded by members of
the militant Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union
(AMCU).
“We are not interested,” striker representative Molifi Phele
said as hundreds of stick-waving demonstrators chanted and
danced around him on the sun-bleached grass in the heart of the
‘platinum belt’, 100km (60 miles) northwest of Johannesburg.
“What he is offering cannot buy you anything. All we want is
12,500.”
Continued…
