‘We will kill them if they go to work’

[miningmx.com] — “WE KILLED him!’ shouts a man from the back of the
crowd. He slides his hand across his cheek to demonstrate how they allegedly sliced
off the man’s cheeks with a knife.

This is Freedom Park, Rustenburg, where an unnamed man was killed last week –
apparently by striking mineworkers who suspected that he was trying to sneak back
to Impala Mine Shaft 8 to reapply for his job.

And striking mineworkers say more will die if the 17,000 workers fired last month are
not reinstated soon.

“We are going to wait for them at the bus stop,’ shouts another man as a crowd of
agitated strikers crowd around the City Press team in an open field in
Freedom Park; a windswept, desolate settlement of RDP houses and shiny zinc
shacks where most of the 17,000 axed miners live as backyard tenants.

“Every morning you will find dead bodies because we are going to kill them! If they
try to go to work they will die! They are still going to die!’ seethes another.

The workers have gathered in the open field next to the railway line separating the
settlement from Shaft 8 since morning.

The night before, bands of men armed with clubs tried to storm the mine hostel, but
were repelled by mine security guards and police in armoured cars.

Tension rises as the afternoon passes. About 200 metres away, police officers stand
guard in Nyalas and bakkies.

Barricades of logs, burning tyres, cement blocks and rocks litter the road that leads
to the settlement.

Groups of excited youths speak of storming a nearby store that was abandoned by
its owners during a looting frenzy the day before. Before long, despite the low-flying
police helicopter, scores of people run through the streets carrying crates of cold
drinks looted from the shop.

Police move in, but even they look resigned to the fact that the damage has already
been done. They manage to salvage some of the crates and pack them into police
Nyalas.

Fear and uncertainty permeate the streets of Freedom Park. The conditions here
belie the settlement’s name.

Almost every lot consists of an RDP house surrounded by at least six zinc shacks
that are rented out at about R400 a month to mineworkers who don’t want to live in
the mine’s hostel.

One of many settlements across the platinum fields of Rustenburg and Phokeng, in
Freedom Park everything centres on mining.

Migrants from southern Africa, the Eastern Cape and Northern Cape work there;
traders sell to them, children are born, schools are built. Strains of Sesotho,
isiXhosa, Setswana and even Portuguese fill the air.

Somali and Pakistani traders have borne the brunt of the rage and lawlessness.
Spaza shops, run largely by immigrants, stand abandoned – their doors and shelves
shattered following the looting sprees of the past few days.

A Mozambican spaza owner is so frightened he sleeps in his store. Another gave
away rotting fruit and vegetables to neighbours on Friday; he’s too scared to trade.

On Thursday night, street battles between striking workers, school pupils and police
raged well into the night.

Sibusiso Shazi (42) says police stormed a shack in which he was sitting with three
friends, and opened fire on them with rubber bullets. He was shot in the knee,
buttocks, hands and right arm, leaving muscles exposed.

Pupils at Freedom Park Secondary say they were forced out of class on Thursday
afternoon when police dispersed a mob on its way to torch the school.

“We came out of class running,’ says one child.

The mineworkers were dismissed after a dispute over a retention bonus and a
subsequent illegal strike. The first to be dismissed were about 5,000 rock drillers who
refused to accept that they would not receive a bonus and went on an illegal strike.

The rest of the more than 17,000 workers were axed for not coming to work.

Impala Platinum said it had lost the production of 60,000 troy ounces – or 1,866 kg –
since the strike began last month.

Workers like Johannes Sekhakhu (47), who earns R3,000 after deductions after 28
years of service, say theirs is simply a demand for a living wage.

Sekhakhu, who lost two fingers in a mine accident, doesn’t understand why Implats
fired and refuses to reinstate them. They have to reapply for their jobs, losing the
benefits they accumulated over decades.

“If they want me to reapply for my job, then they should give me back my fingers. I
want my fingers back!’ he cries.

Lesotho national Moliehi Lekoane (40) says the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM),
which has been holding talks with Implats in a bid to resolve the impasse, has let
them down.

“We have never seen those [NUM] people here. They were supposed to represent
us, but instead, they sent us to the bush.

“They abandoned us. They claim to represent us, but they have never even come
here to hear our views. I earn R3,000 and I have five children. What am I going to do
with R3,000?’

– City Press

UPDATE: Between 350 and 400 people have been arrested so far
in connection with violent incidents, Sapa reported on Sunday.

Brigadier Thulani Ngubane said they had been charged with malicious damage to
property, theft, illegal gatherings, public violence, and possession of stolen goods.

Although Implats has already agreed to re-employ 17,200 workers who were
dismissed for striking illegally, the company and unions have yet to discuss the
disparities in the bonuses given to miners, excluding the rockdrill operators, and other
issues of re-instatement.

In a statement issued over the weekend, NUM said these issues would be discussed
at a later stage, and encouraged workers to go back to work.

“The National Union of Mineworkers made it clear to the company that should it
renege on its commitments on the re-instatement issue and on the engagement on
the rockdrillers issue when all workers are back, the NUM will call a general strike at
Implats operations,’ the trade union said.

“The NUM is committed to a peaceful resolution at Implats and appeals to all its
members and workers ain general to return to the operations next week when their
issues are being addressed.’