The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) issued a statement on Monday advising that it had learned with shock of the death of a mineworker at Samancor’s operations near Steelpoort in Limpopo Province.  

The incident apparently happened at around 9 am on Sunday morning.  The union said:  “One death is one death too many.  This is unacceptable as we don't sell our lives, limbs or lungs to the industry but our labour to provide for our families.”  The union reiterated its call for the Mine Health and Safety Act to be amended so that those found to be responsible for fatalities in the mining industry were given harsher sentences or long imprisonment in jail.  The NUM expressed its strong feelings that currently the sentences were not sufficiently harsh.

• The NUM’s full statement is at Polity

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