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19 November, 2007
Calling South Africa’s mining industry “the killing fields within our economy,” the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) submitted a report on mine safety 14 November to the National Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Minerals and Energy.
The NUM listed eight recommendations needed to reduce the number of accidents and deaths occurring in South African mines. They include obtaining better detection technology on seismic geological events; legislation that will provide steeper fines on mining houses, up to imprisonment for executives when tragedies do occur; enabling legislation to nationalise mines when mining companies are found negligent in death-related accidents; and a mandatory review and heightened training of safety representatives by companies and the government, which must include risk assessment criteria enabling miners to detect and report hazardous conditions.
The report cited the number of deaths and injuries per million hours worked in South Africa’s mines since the year 2000. And it specifically highlighted the fact that, even though the Mine Health and Safety Act of 1996 sets forth a procedure for legal prosecution in mine safety negligence, no such prosecution has occurred dating back to the year 2000.
“Given the gravity of this situation and the need to send a clear message to employers that profit maximisation must not be pursued at the cost of our members’ lives,” the NUM report concludes, we have no alternative but “to embark on a National Strike.”
In mid-October, the NUM filed for certification for such a strike with the Commission on Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA). That governmental agency, along with the NUM and the Chamber of Mines, is currently in the consultation process that is mandatory before any legal strike can occur.