S.African president vows to restore stability

JOHANNESBURG - South African President Jacob Zuma on Monday vowed to restore stability in the mining sector which has been hard hit by strikes.

"We have to find a way to restore workplace stability and labor peace. Violence cannot become a culture of our labor relations," Zuma said at the National Conference of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) in Johannesburg.

He ureged workers and employers to use the laws of the land which spell out clearly how to handle disputes between themselves.

Wage disputes between miners and management have forced the closure of operations at four mines, including the Lonmin Platinum Mine in Marikna near Johannesburg, where violence led to the deaths of 44 people last month.

The president said labor unrest had dealt a heavy blow to the mining indusry, with the total rand value of production lost in the gold and platinum group of mines amounting to almost 4.5 billion rand ($548 million) due to work stoppages over the past nine months.

"Losses in the coal sector, adds another 118 million rand ($14.5 million) to the total," Zuma said.

The National Treasury estimates that through its indirect impact on the economy, the strike actions in addition to other stoppages have subtracted close to 3.1 billion rand ($378 million) already from the national fiscus, according to the president.

He warned that if labor unrest continued, the country would be hit by another recession.

"We cannot afford to go into a recession, and revert to the 2008 and 2009 period where the country lost close to a million jobs, which we are still battling to recover. We wish the employers and workers well as they seek a solution to this wage impasse. Government will continue to provide support to the negotiations, through the Ministry of labor," Zuma said.

He defended the deployment of troops at Marikana to help restore stability, saying: "Given the levels of violence and intimidation in Marikana, government deployed law enforcement agencies to stabilise the situation. This does not take away the rights of miners and residents to protest, peacefully and unarmed, as provided for in the laws of the land. The agencies have been told to be firm, but to respect the rights of residents and strikers."

He appealed to some political party leaders in the country who have been vocal to desist from the irresponsible language of comparing the Marikana law enforcement campaign to apartheid era measures.

"They know that what they are saying is not true. They are unashamedly using a tragedy to score political points instead of putting the interests of the workers and the country first," he said.

"We also wish to urge the workers and their employers to find solutions to the dispute without further delay, given its ongoing impact on the economy," Zuma added.