MBOMBELA stadium will not meet its April completion deadline after construction firm Basil Read dismissed about 400 workers following an illegal strike.

Mbombela, in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga, is one of the stadiums under construction for next year’s World Cup.

Eugene du Toit, spokesman for Mbombela Stadium Joint Venture, said yesterday progress was derailed by illegal strikes throughout the construction period.

The strike at Mbombela had entered its third week, and according to Du Toit, workers were “demanding a R70 000 bonus fee each because the project was nearing completion”.

Du Toit said: “The construction process has been hit by unprotected strikes, most of which were over wages and the land deal facilitated by the municipality.”

He said the first illegal strike was in December 2007 and it was agreed that any illegal industrial action would result in dismissals. “They participated in another illegal strike last year June over bonus payments and we dismissed them.

“We later reinstated them under another agreement that they will never engage in an illegal strike.”

Du Toit emphasised that no worker will be reinstated this time. “None of the striking workers will be reinstated or will have anything to do on site.”

Asked when the stadium will be ready, Du Toit said: “November 2009 sounds [like] a realistic time for completion.” Mmatsatsi Marobe, chief executive of the Tourism Business Council of South Africa, said: “People should manage their labour relations better; we have the world watching us and we can’t afford any more delays.”

She said completion in November was still “fine” because there would still be about six months before South Africa staged the event.

Lesiba Seshoka, National Union of Mineworkers spokesman, which also represents workers in the construction industry, said the company should be careful when dealing with this issue.

“The NUM condemns this illegal strike, but the company also needs to continuously engage its workers.” He added that a “big problem” would arise if the company employed labour from outside the community to replace the fired workers.

No agreement was reached between 500 dismissed workers at the Mbombela stadium and the Mbombela Stadium Joint Venture (Basil Read/Bouygues Civil Works) in Nelspruit on Friday.

On Thursday it was reported that the workers and management were on the verge of a settlement.

Spokesman for MSJV Eugene du Toit said negotiations closed on Friday afternoon and talks would resume next week.

"We have settled on most situations except on the issue of the shop stewards. "We want to take disciplinary action against shop stewards who played major roles in the illegal strike due to the vandalism and losses incurred," he said.

Du Toit said this would be in terms of labour laws and they would not budge on the issue.

The National Union Of Mineworkers (NUM) said that they were on the verge of a settlement but nothing had been signed.

The 500 were fired for an illegal strike at the Mbombela stadium.

They were demanding nightshift allowances, bonuses and better working conditions.

Spokesman for the workers James Maseko said the protest followed management's refusal to pay them an R800 nightshift allowance.