Johannesburg - Striking Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) miners took to the streets in Rustenburg on Monday and intimidated those they believe have been reporting for duty. The action comes after a relatively quiet weekend.
A group of workers from the Khomanani shaft marched on Monday to the Waterval residential complex and the mine’s recreational club inside the complex, where they said some workers and senior managers had been reporting for duty.
But the miners found the police waiting and blocking the entrance to the complex with Nyala armoured vehicles. They were asked to stand on the other side of the road.
This did not stop the strikers jeering and intimidating those leaving or entering the complex. A man who had just left the complex was stopped by striking workers from catching a taxi.
He turned to the police, but the group screamed at him, asking him to cross the road and join them, which he did.
The man explained to them that he was not working, but had been there to collect a leave form, which he showed to them. He was ordered to join the strikers.
Another man fled when the group yelled at him as he entered the complex, while many others were threatened.
Later, the group marched down the road under police escort to the Batho Pele mine, where thousands of cars had been seen in the parking lot, leading the demonstrators to believe that there were people working at the mine.
The group’s leader, Patrick Mosenogi, said they had asked the Batho Pele management to shut down the mine, and they had complied.
“Our aim is to bring the whole Amplats to a standstill, and that means no one must report for duty until our demands have been addressed,” he said.
Police were on site to block the entrance to the mine, with only the group’s leaders allowed through, but mine security officials refused them entry to the main gate.
Meanwhile, it was fairly calm elsewhere at Amplats’ mines in Rustenburg, after a week of violence that saw several cars and shops burnt at the Thembelani and Khomanani mines.
Workers last met on Saturday at the Nkaneng informal settlement near the Turffontein mine. They decided that the strike would continue, that none of the 12 000 miners Amplats dismissed should appeal and that those living on mine property must ignore orders for them to leave.
Striking miners’ committee member Evans Ramokga said Amplats was still in talks with unions with which it had an existing wage agreement.
“Seemingly, management want to engage us over our demand, but then there is an existing agreement with the unions. They were still looking at it, and our understanding is that management will call us as soon as they have worked something out,” Ramokga said.
Meanwhile, security guards insulted a National Union of Mineworkers leader and an SABC journalist at Amplats’ Northam plant in Limpopo on Monday.
NUM spokesman Lesiba Seshoka said their regional secretary had been called “hardegat [stubborn]”.
The SABC reported that journalist Dyaell Gaetsewe was threatened and subjected to racial slurs and insults.
Additional reporting by Sapa
The Star