Johannesburg - Cosatu has announced plans to march to the Department of Mineral Resources this week to demand that the authorities do something about the plight of Lily Mine workers who have been trapped underground for nearly six months and others who have not been paid during the period.
The trade union federation said it was disappointed by the government’s lack of action and commitment to addressing the ongoing issues at the mine.
Spokesman Sizwe Pamla said the government had not acted on its promises to find the missing miners and compensate the injured ones.
“The workers were given false promises by the Minister of Mineral Resources, Mosebenzi Zwane, who promised the families of the trapped miners R200 000 and the injured workers about R50 000,” Pamla said.
“Workers are not disposable tools that when they are broken you buy new ones.”
The Vantage Goldfields-owned mine outside Barberton, Mpumalanga, came under the spotlight when a container fell into a sinkhole in February leaving three mineworkers trapped inside.
Seventy-six other workers were rescued following the collapse but subsequent rescue operations were delayed due to the instability of the ground.
The mine promised to compensate families of the trapped and injured miners.
In April the mine was placed in business rescue as the search for the missing employees took a toll on its balance sheet.
But efforts to find a potential investor suffered a setback last week when Canadian producer AfroCan Resources pulled out of the $11.3 million (R164m) deal that would have seen the miners being paid their salaries.
Pamla also accused the government of making empty promises. “The Lily Mine tragedy must not be used as a public relations exercise. The minister said all those things because there were cameras and the media,” he said.
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said it had tried to engage the department on the trapped miners without success.
A spokesman for the NUM, Livhuwani Mammburu, said the union would not stop until the trapped mine workers had been found.
Mammburu said that the union would also join the planned march.
“Instead of the mine to consider profit they should focus on the safety first,” said Mammburu.
“The march is to address the demands they have they want to know if the department has enough budget to compensate those mine workers who are still sitting at home, and to continue with the investigations of the Lily Mine tragedy.”
Trade union Solidarity also said that it would take part in the march.
“We will support and take part in the march and we will hand over a memorandum to the minister whether workers should enjoy the current situation,” spokeswoman Inge Strydom said.
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