ANA reports that that the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Monday that Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane, under whom the industry continued to bleed jobs, was the worst minister the country had had since the dawn of democracy in 1994.  

The union said it had ''no working relationship'' with Zwane and reiterated its call to President Jacob Zuma to fire him.  One of the problems was said to be that Zwane was never available for meetings with the union.  NUM general secretary David Sipunzi said retrenchment notices currently being received by the union increased by the day, and that Zwane's decision to put a moratorium on new mining and prospecting applications as well as on the transfer of mineral rights between companies would worsen the situation.  Over 20,000 mineworkers face retrenchments.  The union has called for a job summit to deal with the ongoing job losses in the sector.  It has also called on companies to ''revisit their position'' on retrenchments.

• Read this report by Getrude Makhafola in full at Business Report
• Read the NUM’s press statement at Cosatu Today

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