SABC News reports that according to Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) Minister Gwede Mantashe, the sit-in at Gold One Mine in Springs, east of Johannesburg, is now a hostage situation.
The Minister met with the mine management, labour unions and the police on Sunday. He said they have handed the situation over to the police. Over 400 mineworkers at the mine have not resurfaced following an underground sit-in. Mantashe said: “We came here to deal with an issue of a sit-in that has changed from a sit-in to a hostage drama today (Sunday), because people are held underground by force and a few people came out assaulted badly. A message in writing has been sent from underground, which is purporting to be from Amcu which put a number of demands if they are not answered within two hours they will kill a shift boss underground.” Gold One’s Ziyaad Hassam confirmed that for the majority of the people underground it was definitely a hostage situation. He added: “We have had reports from underground of nine miners that have been assaulted, so the situation is very dire and we heading to day three with minimal food and water available.”
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