NUM infuriated at the death of miners

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) is infuriated at the death of two miners who died at  Harmony Gold ‘s Kusasalethu outside Carletonville. The miners died after a mudrush at a time when they were busy with winches and rigging. The NUM is especially angry at the rate in which miners lose their lives. On Friday, a worker died at Impala in Rustenburg whilst another died at Harmony in the Free State. 

Yesterday, two workers working for a labour broker died after a shovel of a front loader heavy vehicle fell on them. One worker was repairing the vehicle whilst the other was working adjacent to it. This bring to 6, the total number of miners who died at work in a few days.

The National Union of Mineworkers further notes the unfortunate gruesome  deaths of some twenty illegal miners who died whilst toiling underground in a  desperate bid to make a living. Whilst the NUM does not condone illegal mining activity, it empathises with the families of the deceased as those who died could as well be some of those whom the embattled Aurora had laid off. The mining industry had laid off thousands of highly skilled miners who no longer have anywhere to sell their skills and thus highly sophisticated mafias take advantage of these poor people.

The NUM condemns in the strongest possible words the lack of proper rehabilitation of the abandoned shafts at Gravelot as well as the negligence displayed by Aurora Directors who wasted time surreptiously taking away minerals that did not belong to them.

"We call on the law enforcement agencies and the Department of Mineral Resources to act swiftly in dealing with both the illegal practice and the mining industry which keeps on refusing to comply with both Health and Safety and environmental legislation" says Frans Baleni, the NUM General Secretary.

Statement issued by Lesiba Seshoka, NUM national spokesman, March 13 2012

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