The Star reports that mining unions are fuming at the lack of safety precautions for workers underground following the deaths of three miners at Harmony Gold’s Kusasalethu Mine in Carletonville.
Five workers were trapped underground on Friday due to a “1.8 magnitude seismic event”, which resulted in a 10m rockfall. Two of the miners are still missing. Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) president Joseph Mathunjwa berated Nedlac for not allowing Amcu’s ‘Section 77’ application to embark on a march to hand over a memorandum to the Department of Mineral Resources and the Presidency, to highlight what he said was a lack of investment in safety precautions for mineworkers. His views were echoed by Erick Gcilitshana of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), who said a similar “seismic event” occurred in July at the Tau Lekoa gold mine in North West, which caused the deaths of four workers. However, a spokesperson said the mine could not have predicted Friday’s seismic event and that Harmony took adequate safety measures in the event of tragedy.
- Read this report by Khaya Koko in full at The Star
- Read too, Mathunjwa: Health and safety in mines always a burning issue, at EWN
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page