* 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 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 sought by members of the
militant Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union
(AMCU).
“We are not interested,” striker 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”, 100 km (60 miles) northwest of Johannesburg.
“What he is offering cannot buy you anything. All we want is
12,500.”
Continued…
