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Call to support platinum wage strike

Rustenburg - South Africans should support the pay strike in the platinum mining sector, the SA National Civic Organisation (Sanco) said on Wednesday.

"It is in the interest of the country and its people to support the platinum belt workers and forget the political alignments," said North West provincial secretary Packet Seaketso.

"This is... a national crisis. We are not going to allow this massacre to continue.... Our people still live in poverty and are slaving for R4 500 and all of us are (seeing) nothing wrong."

Seaketso said trade unions should put their differences aside and unite as workers.

Members of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) atImpala Platinum (Implats) [JSE:IMP], Lonmin [JSE:LON] and Anglo Platinum (Amplats) [JSE:AMS] downed tools on January 23, demanding a basic monthly salary of R12,500.

They rejected an offer by the companies to bring their pay to R12 500 by July 2017.

The labour court is mediating in an attempt to resolve the strike.

Newly appointed Mines Minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi said on Wednesday that the deadlock in the country's crippling 18-week platinum strike would soon be broken as movement has been made on both sides.

"We will break the deadlock. I can say there has been movement on both sides," Ramatlhodi told Reuters.

He said a "political intervention is necessary" after several rounds of negotiations failed.

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