The South African Rand has declined against the US Dollar and a number of its peers after further bouts of violence in the nations mining sector, and as strikes hamper South Africa’s transportation network.
On Saturday, a miner was stabbed as he walked to work, and groups of rival miners prevented each other from reporting for duty at two Gold mines. AngloGold, the company which is the biggest gold producer in Africa said that the disruptions hit its mine near to Carletonville, west of Johannesburg and its Moab Khostong Mine.
“Regrettably, one employee on his way to work at Moab, where about 1,000 reported for work, was stabbed and is in a critical condition in hospital,” AngloGold said in a statement.”Small groups of workers have prevented most others from going to work in a dispute over Saturday working arrangements,” it added. The company is blaming the fresh violence on the increasingly militant union of the Association of Mining and Construction Union or AMCU.
The fast-growing movement has been behind disruptions and violence for over a year and is threatening to create further turmoil in the nations mining sector. Last year saw labour violence and strikes lead to the deaths of up to 50 people and has cost companies and the government billions of Rand in lost revenues.
Elsewhere in the country a man died in worker riots in Soweto and a bus drivers strike was preventing thousands of people from getting to work in Johannesburg. Investors had been hoping that such actions were in the past but the weekend’s events have highlighted just how risky the Rand has become.
Asba Capital told its clients; “This serves as a reminder of how vulnerable the Rand still is to domestic industrial action, especially the bus workers strike which could have potentially far reaching effects for the South African economy.”
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