The gold miners gather in front of the old Crown Gold Mines and begin a peculiarly South African form of protest. They dance, hoot horns, wave knob-kerry sticks, and generally appear to be having a fabulous time.
But the joyous mood hides a serious problem. These workers are striking for a 13 percent salary increase. Food prices here are skyrocketing, and gold prices are hovering at more than $1,000 an ounce.
“[DRD Gold] is paying us peanuts,” says Juliet Sibanyoni, a plant operator, “but we are not monkeys. They should not pay us peanuts.”
But DRD Gold, which owns Crown Mines and two other facilities, says record gold prices don’t make record profits. Even though gold prices are high globally, the value of the US dollar is weak. By the time DRD Gold converts its dollars into the strong South African rand, the company says that it sees almost no profit.
For an industry that once defined South Africa’s gold-rush economy, these are worrying times, and the growing bumptiousness of South Africa’s unions is a sign of more trouble ahead.
