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.

A two-week long strike by the National Union of Mineworkers at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane, Limpopo, has ended, the NUM announced on Tuesday.

"Parties have agreed that workers will get their R3000 bonuses in two parts. Firstly R1000 on the eighth [August 8] and then again R2000 in December," NUM spokesman Lesiba Seshoka said in a statement.

"Parties also agreed that those who leave the contract before the end of the term either due to retrenchment or lapse of their contracts will also receive their full bonus," he said.

The construction consortium WBHO originally gave workers until Monday to return to work or face dismissal, maintaining that the strike was illegal.

However, the NUM asked that this deadline be extended to Tuesday.

Workers were upset at a decision by WBHO management to pay their bonuses for December this year only on completion of the stadium in November next year.

The stadium will be one of those which will host Fifa 2010 Soccer World Cup matches.

The strike by construction workers at the Mbombela 2010 soccer stadium in Nelspruit has entered its fifth day