Published>Fri, May 28 10 10:09 PM
The ruling ANC party dismissed threats of a national strike during the World Cup, but a fresh stoppage loomed after a miner's union said 3,000 workers would down tools at diamond producer De Beers.
The African National Congress' Secretary General Gwede Mantashe said the party did not expect any strikes during the world's premier sporting event.
Labour federation COSATU, a powerful ally of the ruling African National Congress with nearly 2 million members, has said it may strike during the World Cup over sharp power price hikes if authorities fail to lower the tariffs.
Any strike could disrupt services and embarrass President Jacob Zuma's government which is hosting the first World Cup ever held on the continent.
"We take that in good faith that there will not be any strikes during (the) World Cup," Mantashe told a news briefing in London.
A fresh strike loomed after the National Union of Mineworkers -- the country's biggest union -- said 3,000 workers at De Beers, in which Anglo American Plc has a stake, would strike over pay from Sunday.
De Beers, the world's largest diamond producer, said the wage talks were still ongoing and the union's call for a strike was premature.
A three week transport strike over wages at South African logistics group Transnet, which ended on Thursday, caused a huge backlog of cargo at ports, which the company said would take up to two months to clear after workers returned to work on Friday.
The strike disrupted railways and ports in Africa's largest economy, denting exports of metals, coal, cars, fruit and wine to Europe and Asia as well as imports of vehicle parts, fuel and equipment meant for the World Cup two weeks to the event.
The work stoppage also took a toll on the mining, transport and manufacturing industries and hurt fresh produce exporters.
Analysts said South Africa could lose some contracts to other markets and job cuts were likely to follow.
Economists have criticised unions for using the World Cup to squeeze pay hikes far above inflation of 5.1 percent, and said the transport strike may have cost South Africa 7 billion rand ($914.3 million) in lost production and sales.
Earlier this week, the NUM called off a strike at Eskom after the state-owned firm obtained a last-minute court order declaring the planned industrial action illegal.
Transnet said its operations at the ports were running as normal on Friday, but it would take weeks and in some cases months to get its units to pre-strike operational levels.
"To get our rail systems operating at the tempo that we did before the strike, it would take us two to three months because of the imbalances in our fleet," said Pradeep Maharaj, Transnet's HR Executive.
The coal industry relies heavily on Transnet for bringing coal to the port and the industry said it was unlikely exports this year would reach a planned 65 million tonnes.
Global miners with operations in South Africa, including Anglo American Plc, Xstrata and the world's top steelmaker ArcelorMittal have yet to cancel a force majeure on the supply of iron ore, ferrochrome, coal and steel which resulted from the strike.
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