Lonmin Mine crisis Continues As Company Ask Workers To resume Work

 
Following the showdown at the Lonmin PLC mine last week which killed about 34 mine workers, management of the shut down Marikana mine have ordered its employees to resume work.
The London-listed company said this is the last call to return to work; else workers may lose their jobs.

However, workers have declined this warning saying they will not go back unless their needs are met. The miners are demanding for more pay.

Miners request result to violence last Thursday between the Miners union and Police leading to the death of 34 people, 78 injured people and 259 people detained. Additional 10 people have been declared dead, which raised the number of death from the mayhem to 44.
Police had claimed the act as a result of self-defence while a judicial commission has been launched to look into the issue.

South Africa’s President, Jacob Zuma, have called for a seven day national mourning to the gruesome death while the nation’s flag will fly half-mast while an official day for nationwide memorial service will be held on Thursday.

The unrest began on the 3^rd of August, this year as some 3,000 workers walked off the job over pay in what management described as an illegal strike.

Those who tried to work Saturday were attacked, management and the National Union of Mineworkers said.

Barnard O. Mokwena, an executive vice president for Lonmin, said the company continued to meet with the police regarding the violence. "Until we know why 3,000 people are under this influence to kill ... people, it's hard for us to believe this is a genuine complaint about the rights of workers," Mokwena said

Meanwhile, Lonmin’s share has dropped since the crisis. 96 percent of all Lonmin's platinum production comes from the mine.

AP Report

While Friday's walkout appeared to be about wages, the ensuing violence has been fueled by the struggles between the dominant National Union of Mineworkers and the upstart Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union. Disputes between the two unions escalated into violence earlier this year at another mine.

Mining helped give birth to modern South Africa, as prospectors and later international companies rushed to areas around Johannesburg and elsewhere looking for gold, diamonds and other precious metals. Today, South Africa remains one of the world's dominant producers of platinum, gold and chromium.

But miners long have faced low salaries and poor working conditions. Apartheid kept black African workers from more lucrative jobs offered to whites. Though the nation became truly democratic in the 1990s, the salaries of black miners remain low.

As the protest continued Tuesday, a report released by an organization monitoring international mining corporations criticized Lonmin's operation at Marikana. The Bench Marks Foundation said Lonmin workers often live in deteriorating shacks without electricity, as workers' children suffer from chronic illnesses brought on by broken pipes spilling raw sewage.

Meanwhile, prostitution, alcoholism and other problems run rampant in the mining communities.

Mokwena, the Lonmin executive vice president, declined to comment about the report's allegations. However, he criticized the timing of the report's release, saying: "It propels more violence unnecessarily."