He says the killing of 34 striking platinum miners by police deserves to be commemorated as seriously as the 1960 Sharpeville massacre of black protestors by apartheid police.

Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema was addressing thousands at the fifth anniversary commemoration of the Marikana massacre.

That was when police shots  cut down 34 striking miners after a week of violence that had claimed  ten more lives.

Malema’s party colleague Advocate Dali Mpofu, who represented the miners families at the commission of inquiry following the massacre, says government has not yet compensated the families of the dead.

EFF MPs have contributed a million rand to help build houses for miners’ families at Marikana.

Malema says further contributions will be made.

Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa remains at the centre of the tragedy.

As a shareholder of the Lonmin Platinum Mine that employed the strikers he called for police action at the time to end the work stoppage.

He has subsequently apologized for  making this request.

Nevertheless the general secretary of the miners’ union AMCU Joseph Mathunjwa said Ramaphosa was not welcome at the commemoration ceremony.

Ramaphosa who is challenging for the leadership of the ruling African National Congress at its elective conference later this year, was a Marikana yesterday . He went to visit widows of the slain strikers.

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The miners, who’ve been out since January, could be back at work by tomorrow (Wednesday).

South Africa’s labour court’s ruled that the union making this announcement is not permitted to extend its industrial action to the gold sector.

Ends intro

President of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, Joseph Matunjwa made the much-awaited announcement that his syndicate has dropped its demands blocking signature on a wage agreement reached in principle ten days ago.

Matunjwa received an enthusiastic response from assembled members, representing some 70 000 workers from three of the world’s largest platinum mines, when he asked if he should ink this agreement today.

It binds the union for three years and falls short of the 840 euro monthly wage they were demanding.

Matunjwa describes is a good start in the miners’ battle to end slave wages and poor working conditions.

He hailed as a victory the reinstatement of 236 emergency service workers sacked during the strike.

He maintains that his union has changed the face of the mining industry for all time and that it has achieved in five months what other unions have failed to do in 20 years.

Minerals minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi has welcome the end of the strike.

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Owners of the world’s biggest producers of the metal crucial for the automotive industry are urging the workers to go back to the deal they struck last week but have yet to sign.

Miners keen to go back to work are already streaming back to the mines.

The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union says the deal it agreed to ending the 21-week strike was conditional on its members receiving a once-off cash payment and an increase in allowances.

These conditions are what’s delaying signing the agreement that was expected days ago.

Spokesman for Amplats, one of three mining houses paralysed by the strike, Mpumi Sithole says the latest AMCU conditions fall outside the settlement agreed last week.

Sithole calls the demands unaffordable.

National Council of Trade Unions President Joseph Maquekeni says the only condition outstanding last week was how long the agreed increase would be drawn out.

The miners want it in three years. The producers want it to be drawn out over five.

The union’s letter of response to the producers on Monday demands the reinstatement of more than 200 essential services employees dismissed during the course of the strike.

The mining houses say that there’s been a spike in workers, who’ve not been paid since January, returning to the mines.

The post Platinum miners’ strike settlement deadlock appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

A deal ending the five-month platinum miners’ strike in South Africa remains up in the air.

The leading union says it’s accepted the mining houses offer.

But both they and the world’s largest producers of the precious, strategic metal say there will have to be further talks this week.

Mines Minister Nkoako Ramatlhodi is upbeat about a settlement ending the strike driving into recession the country that produces 80 percent of the world’s platinum.

Ramatlhodi admits the devil remains in the detail.

Technical adviser to the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union Brian Ashley says they wrote to the mining houses on Monday accepting their offer.

It will double miners’ wages by 2017 but still falls short of their demand for 800 euros a month.

Ashley says the miners are expected to go back underground by next Monday.

Spokesman for Impala Platinum, Anglo American Platinum and Lonmin Johan Theron says there’s still some work to be done.

The miners want to get their increase within three years. The owners want to stretch it out over five

Meetings scheduled for last weekend to agree the details didn’t happen.

Amcu’s in court seeking to embark on a strike in the gold sector. Its members there are also demanding a minimum monthly wage of 800 euros.

Gold producers say a strike based on such as a demand could devastate the industry.

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With a public holiday on Monday, it could be three days before anything’s signed.

The industrial action is the main reason for two credit agencies lowering the country’s rating.

General Secretary of the militant Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union Joseph Matunjwa says they’ve changed South Africa’s mining industry forever.

He says they’ve reached a deal in principle to end the strike although he needs to consult with the mining houses.

Lowest paid members in his union will make 600 euros more a month over the next three years –less than the immediate 780 euros a month they’ve been holding out for.

Matunjwa says if the mining house restructure or shed jobs it will be a deal breaker.

Economists concur that there cannot a recovery from the strike that cost the mining houses 1.3 billion euros in lost revenue and the miners half of that in lost wages.

Ratings agency Standard and Poors dropped South Africa’s credit rating to BBB, just one notch up on junk bond status.

The Fitch agency dropped its rating from stable to negative.

In addition to the miners strike they cited sluggish economic growth and South Africa’s constrained electricity supply.

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The Union’s determined to reduce the pay of executives it says create a disproportionate wage age perpetuating the inequities of the apartheid system overthrown two decades ago.

Ends intro

The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union known as AMCU’s in South Africa’s Labour Court contesting a bid by the Chamber of Mines to prevent the platinum miners’strike now in its fifth month spreading to the gold sector.

Earlier this week that court rejected an AMCU bid to prevent employers contacting the workers directly through text messages.

Counsel for the union argued that it was the miners unions that dismantled apartheid

And any bid to prevent their seeking a wage of 900 euros a month – twice their current remunetration – undermines this historic progress.

The Chamber of Mines argues that AMCU, a relatively newcomer to the scene, is not a party to the collective agreement is has with unions in the gold sector.

The Platinum miners strike has cost workers 700 million euros in lost wages and bled two billion euros off the mine owners’ earnings.

It’s created the biggest slump in mining output in nearly 40 years and threatens to drive the South African economy into recession.

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The strike-breakers were meeting a deadline by Lonmin for their employers to end their marathon action that’s cost them an estimated 53 million euros in lost wages.

Ends intro

The miners strike has cost the owners at least 100 million euros.

They say their final offer is a ten percent pay hike

Using text messages, Lonmin polled its workers and found sixty percent want to get back underground.

President of the militant Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union Joseph Mathunjwa insists the strike is still on and will continue until workers are paid 800 euros a month.

He urges thousands of club wielding strikers to remain steadfast.

They’d gathered at a stadium near the Lonmin operations at Marikana, where 34 strikers were shot dead by police in August 2012.

Armoured police vehicles patrolled the area and a police helicopter circled overhead.

Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa was among senior government and police officials who visited the area.

Mthethwa says they won’t tolerate any intimidation of miners wanting to return to work.

Police have the names of those instigating violence and will crack down on them shortly.

Anarchy won’t be allowed whether disguised as industrial action or not.

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