Reuters reports that power utility Eskom said on Wednesday it had obtained a court order to stop a strike over pay by thousands of National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) members.  

The company has branded the stoppage that started on Monday illegal because its employees are prohibited by law from striking, but said its operations had not been affected so far.  The NUM said on Tuesday that all of its 15,000 members at the utility, or close to a third of Eskom's workforce, would stop work on Wednesday.  Eskom's spokesman Khulu Phasiwe said the court order prohibited the NUM and two other unions from going on strike.  NUM spokesman Livhuwani Mammburu said his members were not aware of the court order and it was not clear whether or not they would go ahead with their "full blown strike".

• Read this report in full at Mining Weekly

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