One miner has been killed in clashes between police and striking workers at a South African platinum mine, witnesses said yesterday, as South African President Jacob Zuma appealed for calm.
“Yesterday [Thursday] the cops shot many people, but one of them is dead, even the dead body is still there where he was shot yesterday, it has not yet been taken [away],” said Qaddafi Mdoda, a witness and workers’ activist at the Anglo American-owned mine.
Circumstances surrounding the killing in the northwestern town of Rustenburg remain unclear, but police had on Thursday fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse a group of striking workers gathered on a hill near the mine.
Police spokesman Thulani Ngubane said they had received reports of the death and were investigating.
“At this stage we are busy on a manhunt to see if we can recover the body,” he said. “The situation is tense ... anything can happen.”
Yesterday morning about 300 miners gathered outside a nearby stadium to voice their protest. Police in armored vehicles were positioned at a distance from the venue.
About 28,000 workers have been on a strike at Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), the world’s top platinum producer, since Sept. 12, demanding higher wages.
A recent protest by truck drivers brought the number of striking workers across the country to about 100,000.
With the country in crisis, Zuma late on Thursday said the often violent work stoppages must end if the continent’s largest economy is to attract more investment and grow.
“We should not seek to portray ourselves as a nation that is perpetually fighting,” he told captains of commerce, just days after global ratings agency Moody’s downgraded South Africa’s credit rating.
Zuma said business and labor needed “to ensure shop-floor peace and stability in the country, in order for us to continue the collective responsibility of promoting economic growth and development.”
“We wish the parties well as they negotiate to solve both the mining and truck-driver strikes,” Zuma said.
The crisis began with a deadly wildcat work stoppage by 28,000 miners at a Lonmin platinum mine in August.
The strike ended with an up to 22 percent pay rise, but not before 46 people had died.
Meanwhile, the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union is pushing for rail and ports workers to join the strike by more than 20,000 truck drivers to bring the entire transport sector to a standstill, it said yesterday.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the