RUSTENBURG, South Africa (Reuters) - A leader of a major protest by South African platinum miners called on Thursday for a national strike in the sector, deepening an industrial crisis that is evolving into the biggest threat to the ruling ANC since it came to power in 1994.
The wave of labor unrest in Africa's biggest economy has spiraled beyond the control of the government and unions into a grass-roots rebellion by black South Africans who have seen little improvement in their lives since apartheid ended 18 years ago.
"On Sunday, we are starting with a general strike here in Rustenburg," protest leader Mametlwe Sebei told several thousand workers at a soccer stadium in the heart of the platinum belt near Rustenburg, 100 km (60 miles) northwest of Johannesburg.
The action was designed to "bring the mining companies to their knees", he said, to mild applause from the crowd, which was armed with sticks and machetes.
Despite the weapons, the strikers insisted their push for a sharp hike in wages was peaceful - even after the August 16 police shooting of 34 protesters at Lonmin's nearby Marikana platinum mine.
"There should be no blood," one placard read.
As investors started to fret about the impact on wider economic growth, the rand fell more than one percent against the dollar on Thursday - compounding a 3 percent slide on Wednesday.
Most men at the soccer stadium said they worked for top producer Anglo American Platinum, commonly known as Amplats, which suspended operations at its four Rustenburg mines on Wednesday after they were blockaded by chanting marchers.
SPREADING CHALLENGE
A group of more than 100 chanting, singing strikers, many rhythmically waving sticks and "knobkerry" clubs, accompanied protest leaders as they delivered a written memorandum laying out their demands to Amplats management offices near the Bleskop stadium.
Several police armored vehicles kept back the larger crowd of miners as the delegation delivered the document.
It spells out demands for an increase of basic monthly pay to 12,500 rand ($1,500), plus for increased allowances that would take the total to 16,000 a month. That wage would be more than double their current salary and also more than double per capita GDP in the country.
As the stick-waving miners accompanied their leaders back to the stadium, they chanted: "We won't give up!"
They said they would not return to work until top management - including Cynthia Carroll, chief executive of Amplats parent company Anglo American - came to hear them out and introduced a basic pay hike.
"She must come to the workers," a 32-year-old worker called Kasigo told Reuters. "If they don't come, we won't work."
Neither Amplats nor Anglo American made any immediate comment.
The labor unrest began with a violent strike at Impala Platinum in January.
It stems from a challenge by the small but militant Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) to the dominance of the ANC-affiliated National Union of Mineworkers(NUM) and is also spreading into the gold sector.
World number four producer Gold Fields said NUM officials came under attack when they tried to address wildcat strikers at its KDC West mine near Johannesburg, where 15,000 men downed tools last week.
ANC renegade Julius Malema - the de facto face of an unofficial "Anyone but Zuma" rebellion in the ANC - has entered the fray, also calling for a national mining strike and accusing the polygamous Zuma of being more interested in arranging weddings than trying to clean up the mess.
Ministers and NUM leaders have dismissed Malema as an irresponsible opportunist but the expelled ANC Youth League leader is becoming a star for the legions of South Africa's impoverished black majority.
Shares in Anglo American Platinum, fell as much 1.8 percent in early trade on top of a 4 percent decline the previous day. Platinum held steady near the 5-month high it hit following Wednesday's Amplats shut-downs.
(Writing by Ed Cropley; Editing by Jon Herskovitz and Matthew Tostevin)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/south-africa-mine-protest-leader-urges-national-strike-105526529--finance.html
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