<\/p>\n
The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) said government\u2019s incompetence and failure to manage the mining sector has caused the disarray experienced in the sector, and illegal miners seeking to make a living cannot be blamed.<\/p>\n
Mathunjwa was reacting to remarks made by Minister in the Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, who told reporters that government would not attempt to rescue illegal miners stranded underground in Stilfontein, North West. Instead, the said government would \u201csmoke them out\u201d.<\/p>\n
At a post Cabinet media briefing on Wednesday, Ntshavheni said government would not help criminals.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not sending help to criminals. We are going to smoke them out. They will come out. We are not sending help to criminals. Criminals are not to be helped. Criminals are to be persecuted.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t send them there, and they didn\u2019t go down there for the good benefit or for the good intentions for the Republic. So, we can\u2019t help them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose who want to help them, they must go and take the food down there. They will come out, we will arrest them,\u201d she emphasized.<\/p>\n The remarks have sparked a whirlwind of reaction, with some supporting the minister\u2019s strong stance while others lambasted Ntshavheni, saying her words lack empathy to the families who have gathered to seek help for their miners.<\/p>\n Mathunjwa, speaking to broadcaster Newzroom Afrika miners \u2013 even those who work for formal mining companies face peril everyday.<\/p>\n \u201cWorkers are being killed everyday even in the regulated mines, therefore there is no law. You can\u2019t blame people who go and seek for livelihood because of this government that is so incompetent,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cTwenty-five kids have been killed in the spaza shops, killed by illegal foreigners who are opening spaza shops. The president cannot even declare it illegal to open a spaza shop to curtail this problem that we are facing in this country.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a banana republic. This is a failed State,\u201d said Mathunjwa.<\/p>\n The AMCU leader highlighted that striking mineworkers at Marikana in August 2012 were also labelled as criminals before 34 were killed in a confrontation with police.<\/p>\n \u201cThey called those workers criminals. I do not know now how they can be able to distinguish between criminals and workers. Thirty-four mineworkers were killed, fighting for economic emancipation by the very same government.<\/p>\n \u201cToday they have the guts to say let\u2019s smoke them out those criminals. The same government has made this environment very fertile for illegal mining.\u201d<\/p>\n Mathunjwa said many mineworkers have been retrenched by mining companies and they could use their skills to train artisanal miners.<\/p>\n National Union of Mineworkers acting deputy general secretary Phillip Mankge criticised Ntshavheni, saying the minister’s remarks were inhumane irresponsible.<\/p>\n \u201cAs NUM we would like to categorically clear that we do not support the statement. In fact it is inhumane and irresponsible of the minister to utter such words when the people are trapped underground,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Mankge said for a very long time, people in South Africa have mined manually, before mining was highly regulated as it is now.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is wrong with African people when they want to go back to their primitive mining stage, to say we want to mine ourselves because we have abundance of gold, chrome and all sorts of minerals in South Africa,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Mankge insisted there is nothing criminal about what the trapped men\u2019s activities.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, reported that the community of Stilfontein has rallied resources and manpower to intervene and rescue illegal miners – said to be in their thousands – who are stranded underground in disused mine shafts after police cut off the channels of much-needed supplies, including food and water.<\/p>\n In recent days, community members have been gathering, waving placards reading \u201cBlack Lives Matter\u201d and \u201cFree Our Brothers\u201d, calling on government to intervene and rescue the stranded miners, colloquially referred to as zama zamas.<\/p>\n One community member who was sent by the community to go underground returned with feedback that there are thousands of people in dire need, with many feeling sick and dehydrated, while others have died.<\/p>\n Hundreds of the illegal miners have emerged in recent days, into the hands of waiting police and members of the SA National Defence Force (SANDF).<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) said government\u2019s incompetence and failure to manage the mining sector has caused the disarray experienced in the sector, and illegal miners seeking to make a living cannot be blamed. Mathunjwa was reacting to remarks made by Minister in the Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, who told reporters that government […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[10153,11542,7383,7827,10084,7384],"class_list":["post-223672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-politics","tag-forgotten","tag-joseph","tag-khumbudzo","tag-marikana","tag-mathunjwa","tag-ntshavheni"],"yoast_head":"\n