SOUTH African mines minister, Gwede Mantashe, has called on the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) to come up with ideas to improve mine safety, said EyeWitness News.
“The union must bring ideas on the issue of fatalities in the industry,” said Mantashe who added that he did not agree with some views that mines where fatalities occurred should be shut. Of the 45 deaths in South Africa’s mines this year, 20 have been at the facilities of Sibanye-Stillwater, a gold and platinum group metals company.
Earlier, NUM general-secretary, David Sipunzi, said arbitration hearings ought to be convened into the fatalities similar to those that took place for families of 143 psychiatric patients in who died of neglect in the Esidemeni tragedy.
“Mining is not about rocks, it is about people,” said Mantashe on June 17. “Once we lose sight of this you have lost the plot. With no human beings, there is no mining,” he said.
“We are very worried that of 45 [miners killed in South African mines this year], 20 [miners] are from one company … from Sibanye-Stillwater,” he said. He added that his department would be “… guided by the MHSA [Mine Health and Safety Act] in terms of taking action”.
