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SA says open for investment despite deadly strike

PRETORIA, Sep 6 – South Africa’s finance minister on Thursday assured foreign investors that the country was open for business despite a strike at a platinum mine that has killed 44 people and rattled the industry.

“Will it impact growth? I don’t think so in any significant way,” Pravin Gordhan told journalists after a meeting with World Bank president Jim Yong Kim.

“But it’s important that we communicate to the world that South Africa is still hard at work and most of it is highly productive and that it is still available for investment opportunities as well.”

Commenting on Lonmin’s Marikana mine tragedy where police gunned down 34 strikers — after 10 people died in clashes days before — Gordhan said the platinum sector had already been under severe pressure but that the rest of the industry must not be affected.

“At the same time, we must be assured that the rest of the mines are working, the bulk of the industry is at work, the bulk of the industry is still exporting to the rest of the world,” he said.

Worker groups and mine managers needed to be given the opportunity to find one another and address work and social issues, he said.

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