By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Management of Gold One confirmed that the second hostage drama has gripped the mine at the Modder East plant in Springs, east of Johannesburg.
Tensions ran high at the gold mine almost two months ago when a turf war between rival unions the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) saw hundreds of workers stuck underground for three days.
Workers wanted the company to scrap the closed shop agreement with NUM, paving the way for AMCU to organise at the mine.
A fresh dispute is currently unfolding at the gold mine.
Gold One chief executive Jonathan Hericourt on Friday morning, “said there are 447 employees underground not coming out.”
Hericourt added that this was according to two employees who say they “escaped” as everyone was being rounded up and herded to the same area as before by a group of balaclava-clad people.
Earlier this week, an in-house investigator at Gold One was brutally murdered in an apparent hit in Springs.
Police are requesting anyone who may have information that can assist with the investigation to contact the Crime Stop line at 08600-10111 or anonymously report tip-offs on the MySAPS app which can be downloaded on any smartphone. All information received will be treated with strictest confidence.
At the same time, more than 20 miners have been allowed to resurface at Weziwe’s Bakubung mine in Rustenburg in the North West, after over 250 employees failed to resurface on Wednesday.
Workers there are demanding wage increases, maternity benefits for women workers, and an an end to section 189 processes announced at the end of last month.
This is a developing story.