South African gold miners return to work

Most of the 80,000 South African gold miners who have been on strike since Tuesday have returned to work after a new pay offer, union officials say.

The National Union of Mine workers (NUM) spokesman said workers for four of the seven companies had accepted the offer of an 8% rise.

The NUM had been demanding 60%, while employers had offered 6% – the same as the current annual rate of inflation.

South Africa’s gold industry is one of the biggest in the world.

But it has been in decline in recent years, while the platinum sector is still recovering from violence during last year’s strikes.

Power cuts

NUM spokesman Lesiba Seshoka told the AFP news agency that the remaining workers were still being briefed about the latest offer.

“This may possibly mark the end of the strike,” he said.

Mine owners had warned that a long strike could lead to gold mines closing and thousands of jobs being lost, following a fall in the price of gold.

They say that their production costs have increased as they have had to dig ever deeper to extract gold.

For many years, South Africa was by far the world’s largest gold producer but it is now the fifth biggest, with just 6% of world production.

However, mining is still the most important sector in South Africa’s economy.

The NUM represents about 64% of South Africa’s 120,000 gold miners.

South Africans were shocked last year when police shot dead 34 platinum miners during an unofficial strike called by a rival union, which accused the NUM of being too close to the ANC government.

South Africa has already been hit by strikes in the vehicle manufacturing and construction industries.

Some electricity workers have also gone on an unofficial strike, leading to severe power cuts in the biggest city, Johannesburg.

An extra generator has been installed near the home of former President Nelson Mandela, who arrived there on Sunday after almost three months in hospital.

He remains in a critical condition.

BBC News Africa.