From Reuters

The main trade union for South African platinum miners will strike next week at the world’s top three producers, hitting over half of global output and the margins of companies struggling to make profits.

A simultaneous stoppage at the three producers would hit a key South African export at a time when the rand currency is near five-year lows, and deal a fresh blow to investor confidence in Africa’s biggest economy.

Renewed labor unrest would also be an unwelcome distraction for President Jacob Zuma and his ruling African National Congress (ANC) ahead of general elections expected in three months.

Members of South Africa’s Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) voted overwhelmingly on Sunday to strike at world No. 1 producer Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) in a show of hands in a stadium in the platinum belt city of Rustenburg.

Written Zandi Shabalala and Ed Stoddard/Read more at Reuters