By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Over 2,000 mineworkers who staged an underground sit-in at Impala Platinum’s Bafokeng Rasimone mine came back to the surface on Wednesday, the company said.
Implats said on Wednesday, North and South shaft employees had surfaced at 17.05 paving the way for it to start the year-end operational shutdown of the operation.
A total of 2,205 employees were involved in the sit-in without the support of the majority of the mine, the National Union of Mineworkers. There were reports earlier on Wednesday that some miners were being held underground against their wishes.
Some 63 employees had returned to surface on Tuesday.
“Implats is grateful the protest action concluded swiftly and without safety incidents, given it occurred in the operation’s underground workings, in breach of safety regulations, and against a background of increasing incidents of a similar nature at other mining companies,” Implats said.
“Implats is thankful for the support received during this protest action, and the assistance provided in securing the safe return of our employees to surface, and reiterates its commitment to constructive and mutually respectful employee engagement.”
It added: “Our focus now shifts to safely completing the planned operational shutdown at Impala Bafokeng ahead of the upcoming Christmas break, instituting required disciplinary processes, and securing the sustainability of the operation amid the low metal price environment.”
The sit-in caps a difficult year for Implats which 27 suffered a catastrophic accident at 11 shaft in Impala Platinum’s (Implats’) Rustenburg Mines. A total of 13 miners died as the result of a conveyance failure and a further 75 were injured. In addition, the company has announced cost cutting measures.
Underground sit-ins were held at the mines of Wesizwe Platinum as well as the the gold production facilities of Gold One. But this is the first time the illegal activity has been extended to one of South Africa’s largest miners.
Meanwhile Trade Union Solidarity said it is discussing the possibility of legal action against Gold One Mine for the hostage situation that took place at its mine in Springs.
In October, hundreds of miners were held underground at the Springs mine for several days due to an alleged long-standing rivalry between Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) and National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) over organising rights.
AMCU has denied the claims that its members held other workers hostage and insisted the workers staging a sit-in.
Solidarity Deputy General Secretary, Paul Mardon, says the health and safety of the miners should be top priority.
“Solidarity is going to hold the management of Gold One Mine in Gauteng accountable for the hostage drama that happened approximately for 5 days at this mine near Springs. We’ve consulted with our legal team and are preparing court documents that address the mines lack of action to prevent or defuse the situation that took place there.
“Gold One as the employer is responsible for ensuring the health and safety of its employees at work and Gold One failed to protect the members who were held hostage underground.”
Mardon says it is concerning that politics and union rivalry resulted in the lives of mineworkers being risked.
“We are also contemplating taking civil action against the union and Gold One on behalf of the members involved in this. We also call for those who are guilty should be dismissed and prosecuted. It is unsettling that apparent labour disputes, trade union rivalry and politics result in this blatant illegal actions.
“We wrote a letter to Gold One, demanding that they take action, we are waiting for their reply and should they not take action by 27 December we will proceed with legal action against them as well.