North West - Talks aimed at ending the five-week-old Lonmin strike will continue in Mooinooi, near Rustenburg, on Tuesday.
Striking workers' leader Zolisa Bodlani confirmed that they had tabled a revised offer, lower than their initial demand of a R12 500 monthly wage.
“Our talks were difficult on Monday. We were engaged on talks until 1am. We are going to report back to workers at the Wonderkoop Stadium at 10am, and proceed to the negotiations,” he said.
He denied a news report that workers had tabled an R11 000 demand at the negotiations.
“I cannot tell you the figure we are still negotiating,” he said.
Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) director Nerine Kahn told SAfm on Tuesday that were was “incredible commitment” from all parties to try and find a resolution.
“We know that the whole nation is watching,” she said.
“We also would like everybody just to be a little bit patient, because it's important in the negotiations that you follow procedures and try and make sure you keep the confidentiality... so people have the opportunity to report back to their constituency and they can make decisions as opposed to hearing from the public domain.”
On Monday, worker representatives said the striking workers were “not married” to their wage demand of a R12 500 monthly salary.
Kahn said she was hopeful that an agreement would be reached soon, and said there was “significant commitment”.
“Everybody in the room is trying to find each other.... They are trying to find ways of ending this impasse.
“We are always hopeful. Negotiations can take time. We think there will be a solution.... We hope,” she said.
Workers at Lonmin went on a wildcat strike on August 10. The strike turned violent and 10 people were killed in the first week.
Six of them were members of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), two were security guards and two were policemen.
On August 16, 34 workers were killed when police opened fire on them, 78 were wounded. Afterwards, 270 workers were arrested.
Another man, reported to be NUM shop steward was found dead last week, bring the number of people killed since the beginning of the strike to 45.
The Lonmin strike has since spread to other platinum mines in Rustenburg and to a chrome mine. - Sapa