HARARE Jan 22 (Reuters) – Workers at the Zimbabwe
unit of platinum miner Impala Platinum have gone on
strike to force the company to pay for their personal
electricity bills, which has partially hit production, state
media reported on Sunday.
The state-owned Sunday Mail reported that half the workers
at Zimplats’ Ngezi mine had taken mass industrial
action over the electricity dispute.
No one at Zimplats was immediately available for comment to
Reuters on Sunday but spokeswoman Busi Chindove told the
newspaper that industrial action was taking place.
“We can confirm that some of our workers at Ngezi mine have
resorted to taking industrial action. Please note, 50 percent of
the workforce has reported for duty,” Chindove was quoted as
saying by the Sunday Mail.
Zimplats is 87 percent owned by South Africa’s Implats and
is among several foreign-owned mines being pressured by
President Robert Mugabe’s government to cede majority ownership
to black Zimbabweans.
(Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Hans-Juergen
Peters)
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