THE National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has expressed its unhappiness with multinational mining and metals processing group Sibanye-Stillwater’s response following what the company described as a shaft incident at one of its mines on Thursday.
NUM national health and safety chairperson Duncan Luvuno on Friday accused Sibanye-Stillwater of playing tricks following the incident that left 260 mineworkers trapped underground at Kloof 7 sub-shaft near Westonaria, west of Johannesburg, while the union puts the figure above 300.
“More than 300 workers are trapped underground. This incident happened yesterday around nine o’clock (in the morning), but it is unfortunate, as always, Sibanye tried to cover it up. That is why we only became in the know around two o’clock (in the afternoon) as organised labour. There is no transparency, and also the arrogance continues,” he said.
Luvuno stated that arrogance is synonymous with the mining company’s management, including its chief executive, Neal Froneman.
“We have been briefed that food is almost reaching the different levels of workers that are down there and fortunately there are no fatalities and injuries,” he explained.
Luvuno, who is also Cosatu’s second deputy president, said union representatives asked management about the condition of mineworkers who are on chronic medication not having eaten for 24 hours.
He said the company informed them that it had doctors on the surface to deal with any eventualities and that in a couple of hours, they would be able to rescue the first batch.
“It is not satisfactory to be told that (because) for the past 24 hours people have not eaten or drunk anything,” Luvuno added.
He said the NUM knew that Sibanye-Stillwater did not care, as the majority of the mineworkers trapped underground are black.
According to Luvuno, this is the fourth incident to occur at the mine, and an instruction in terms of the Mine Health and Safety Act (MHSA) has been issued by the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources, stating that some of the escape routes are not in good standard and non-compliant.
He said the company was told to replace and fix the guarding in February, but in April, the issue was still unresolved.
“On that note, they issued Section 54 in terms of the MHSA, which basically halts operations at that particular level. If it were not under Section 54, it would have been much easier in the circumstances that we are in, having to be used as an escape route, but it shows the arrogance of this management of Kloof,” stated Luvuno.
Sibanye-Stillwater announced that 260 mineworkers were trapped underground and that it was actively implementing its safety and shaft examination procedures. The company indicated that once these are completed, it will begin hoisting employees to the surface.
“All 260 employees have been accounted for, are safe, and have been provided with food. Initial investigations show that the Kloof 7 sub-shaft rock winder skip door opened at the loading point on level 39, impacting levels 40 and 41 below this point. The open door of the skip caused some damage at level 35, and the work to make this safe has been completed,” Sibanye-Stillwater added.
It promised that following a detailed risk assessment a decision was taken for employees to remain at the sub-shaft station until it is safe to proceed to the surface in order to avoid walking long distances.
Sibanye-Stillwater estimated that all affected employees will be brought to surface around midday on Friday.
