Business
Mining Strike Impacts South African Economy
Perhaps half a percent had been lost already, he added, if the 4 billion rand in lost employee wages and the effect on companies that supply and service the mines are added.“This means growth of 2 percent or lower,” Schussler said. Even operations not on strike, such as Aquarius Platinum’s , have not been able to capitalize on their rivals’ misfortunes as the strike has not had much impact on price.
Spot platinum prices are little changed since the strikes began on Jan. 23 as traders bet that the availability of above-ground stocks will cushion end-users from the impact.
Cattle and caravans
The lost wages have been felt immediately in the communities along the platinum belt northwest of Johannesburg. Patrick Tlou, 48, the owner of the Phomolong Tavern, where Majodina and a few other men were sitting in a circle on plastic chairs drinking beer, said his trade was suffering. “Business is very down. It’s because of the strike. Many of my customers have gone home,” he said. Home for most miners is the villages they hail from in places such as Eastern Cape province, hundreds of miles away.
This is where Majodina keeps his cattle. After sending money home for years to his family, he will now have to draw on his cows and kin to see him through the strike. “On April 1, I will go to the local Shoprite store and get 300 rand that my mother will send me out of her pension check. But normally I send money home,” he said. As for his cattle, it’s a buyer’s market as desperation sets in among miners, many of whom own livestock back in their rural homesteads. “If I say I want 6,000 rand for this animal, someone will say I only have 4,000 rand, and I will have to take it.”
Elsewhere in Rustenburg, Ig Bronkhorst, owner of Campworld, which sells caravans and camping gear, said his business was also badly affected, though his typical client would be in a higher income bracket than the striking AMCU members, who are at the bottom of the mine wage scale. “My business is down at least 30 percent since the strike started. It goes wider than the guys working on the mine. It is also the contractors and the suppliers for the mines, and many of them are my customers,” he said. “People are bringing back caravans to sell because they need money,” he said.
Copyright Voice of America 2014
