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4 May, 2009
Although not occurring at the rate of mining deaths two years ago, the number of miners killed inside South African mines continues to rise this year following tragic deaths at Harmony Gold 11 days ago. And also in late April, two miners employed by AngloGold Ashanti died at the company’s Moab Khotsong mine, and another miner went missing deep inside the Great Noligwa mine.
ICEM South African affiliate, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), now says that the official death count is over 60 so far this year. The 2007 rate exceeded 160 official deaths.
The incident at Harmony’s Tshepong mine, located in Free State, was particularly repugnant because the company apparently was engaged in both underground blasting and drilling on the same day, a taboo according to the country’s mine safety laws. Besides the two who were trapped and died from a rock cave-in, another miner who was rescued had his leg amputated.
The Tshepong tragedy wasn’t Harmony’s only mine killings in April. On 14 April, a contract worker was electrocuted at the company’s Target mine in Free State.
The NUM is continuing to do day-long, stop-work actions as “Days of Mourning” for miners killed on the job. On 20 April, Harmony miners stopped work to mourn, and further work stoppages were done last week at the other mines.
The AngloGold Ashanti deaths occurred at the Moab Khotsong mine, where a collapse of ground killed two miners. At the Great Noligwa mine near Orkney also in the Witwatersrand Basin, a miner failed to surface on 25 April following his shift.
The spate of deaths and accidents comes just over two months since a safety audit was released in South Africa, showing that overall safety in mines was running at a dismal average of just 66%. The safety audit prioritised the maintenance of infrastructure as a necessity for improvement.
Frans Baleni & Senzeni Zokwana
“No condition should justify why a worker should lose a life,” said NUM President Senzeni Zokwana at the time of the audit’s release. Added NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni, “Safety should be a constitutional right of all workers.”