/ 15 May 2013

Marikana: Strikers file into stadium for Amcu leader’s address

Workers downed tools demanding the immediate closure of the National Union of Mineworkers' offices at Lonmin.
Workers downed tools demanding the immediate closure of the National Union of Mineworkers' offices at Lonmin.

It was not clear on Wednesday who fired the shots and whether anyone was wounded. Six gunshots were heard while workers were filing into the stadium.

However a Mail & Guardian reporter at Marikana has tweeted: "Bah. No 'shots fired' at #Marikana. I was 50 metres away. Don't know if it was firecrackers or a noisemaker or what – but it wasn't gunfire."

Dressed in green, union T-shirts and carrying knobkerries and sticks, the strikers sang as they entered the stadium.

It is expected that the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) president, Joseph Mathunjwa, would ask them to end their strike at Lonmin's platinum mines in North West.

Workers downed tools on Tuesday, demanding the immediate closure of the National Union of Mineworkers' (NUM) offices at Lonmin.

Striking Lonmin workers made their way to the Wonderkop Stadium on Wednesday for a feedback meeting.

The workers chanted as they marched to the stadium from the various shafts where they gathered in the morning.

Notive given to Lonmin
On Tuesday, Amcu branch chairperson Mceli Balimani said Lonmin refused to close the NUM's offices, and said the NUM was given notice to vacate the offices by July 3.

Striking workers agreed at a meeting on Tuesday that they would report for duty on Wednesday, but would not go underground.

Lonmin spokesperson Sue Vey said there were no operations at the mine on Wednesday.

"Everything has come to a halt. Management is meeting with unions as we speak."

Lonmin's platinum mine in Marikana was at the centre of a wildcat strike in the platinum belt last year, with 44 people killed – 34 of them at the hands of the police – in strike action. – Sapa

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