Strikers block access to Anglo platinum shafts; organizers may be linked to Lonmin, Impala strikes

Striking Anglo Platinum workers have blocked roads leading to shafts owned by the miner. Anglo Platinum is the largest platinum producer in the world.

“Around 1,000 mineworkers had a confrontation with mine security last night at the Siphumelele shaft and the situation has spread to other mine shafts this morning,” police spokesperson Thulani Ngubane said.

Anglo Platinum confirmed that some of its employees “were unable to clock in for night shift due to fear of intimidation and threats by unidentified individuals in and around” its Rustenburg operations yesterday.

“There is apparently a high level of intimidation,” said National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka. “There is a group that is coercing people to gather and have a strike.”

Seshoka said the organizers of labor dispute at Angloplats are the same people responsible for the issues at Impala Platinum and Lonmin in Marikana.

“The people who are responsible for organising this threatening (of) workers are the same people who are doing it at Marikana and Impala. A couple of people come and they start talking to workers. If you don’t listen you are dealt with,” Seshoka said.

Source (English): fin24