Patchy Response to S.Africa Strike Call, AngloGold Ashanti Hit Hard

A call for a national strike by South Africa's biggest trade union in protest at what it calls a "catastrophic" unemployment level of 40 percent seems to have been met with a patchy response, although miner AngloGold Ashanti has been hit hard with most of its workforce reportedly failing to turn up.

The one-day strike was called by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), which said up to 500,000 members could strike in what may turn out to be the country's biggest day of industrial action in 15 years.

The union said it was not possible to accurately measure how many workers had answered its call not to turn up for work, but reports said a large numbers of people were striking, particularly at gold mining firms. The mining industry is heavily unionized and has suffered large-scale job losses in recent years.

Transport operators said the number of commuters was down by almost half, with traffic lighter than usual, but no major disruptions are being reported in any of South Africa's main cities.

Cosatu said today's strike was the first in a chain of disruptions that it is threatening to hold between now and February in an attempt to pressure the government over unemployment and the 22 million South Africans it claims are living in poverty. Official figures indicate that 25 percent of South Africans are unemployed.

Cosatu said protests and demonstrations would bring the country's big cities to a standstill.

A range of industries, such as mining and textiles, have been hit hard in recent years because of the strength of the South African rand, and the decrease in tariffs on imported goods, particularly clothes from China.