Reuters reports that President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday that SA would tighten its mine safety regulations to hold mine operators accountable for accidental deaths in the industry.  

Ramaphosa was responding to the latest tragedy to hit SA’s mines, namely the deaths of six workers on Sunday in an underground fire at a copper mine operated by Palabora Mining.  A spate of deaths at Sibanye-Stillwater’s gold operations, including a seismic event that killed seven miners in early May, has highlighted the risks in SA’s deep and dangerous mines.  "We are going to tighten up the regulations to ensure that those who run these mines must be accountable themselves because we cannot have so many deaths," said Ramaphosa, who had been general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) during apartheid.  Ramaphosa noted that 54 miners had been killed in SA mines so far in 2018.

• Read this report by Ed Stoddard in full at BusinessLive
• Read too, Cosatu calls for review of Mine Health and Safety Act, at Business Report

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page