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15 June, 2009
Both ICEM affiliate National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) have condemned Harmony Gold for lax security at its Eland Mine in Welkom, Free State province, following the deaths of 82 illegal miners. Reportedly, an underground fire that started on 18 May caused the deaths, with the first bodies brought to the surface on 30 May.
A total of 294 illegal miners who lived and worked inside Harmony’s abandoned mine were brought safely to the surface, along with the dead bodies starting two weeks ago.
Mines Minister Susan Shabangu
COSATU is supporting NUM’s call that a full government investigation must occur. The NUM charged Harmony with failure to properly invest in security systems. South African Mines Minister Susan Shabangu, who spoke at a press conference at the mine site following the removal of 25 bodies on 2 June, said the deaths come at the hands of organized crime.
At the same press conference with Shabangu, Harmony’s CEO Graham Briggs said the “criminal miners” had requested of Harmony to provide body bags “and we have been doing such and they have been bringing the bodies to the shaft stations.”
The NUM points to a system of corrupt managers and others who lure workers into the shuttered gold mines of South Africa. With major redundancies occurring in many mining sectors in South Africa, coupled with continued high gold prices, profiteering through illegal gold mining is again rampant. Gold prices in South Africa have increased 51% from March 2008 to March 2009. In March of this year, 20 illegal miners died from a fire inside shafts of Pan African Resources’ New Consort Mine in Mpumalanga province.
The illegal miners are referred to as “zama-zamas” who live underground and survive by another corrupt practice, individuals delivering them food and supplies in exchange for money. The NUM believes the miners themselves are the victims and calls on the South Africa government to earnestly eradicate illegal mining.