Johannesburg - The chairperson of the portfolio committee on mineral resources, Sahlulele Luzipo, on Tuesday called for strong action to be taken against mining company Sibanye-Stillwater, including possibly suspending its operating licence.
Luzipo said the rate at which workers were dying at Sibanye mines had reached "disastrous proportions"
This comes after Sibanye confirmed on Tuesday that a mineworker had died at its Khomanani mine at the Driefontein operation, west of Johannesburg, after he entered a scraper path and was caught by the scraper.
This latest incident brings to six the number of Sibanye workers who have died in one month, raising the number of fatalities to 21 in 10 incidents since the beginning of the year.
Earlier this month, five mineworkers died at Sibanye's Kloof Ikamva shaft in Driefontein after they entered an abandoned shaft with poor ventilation and died from gas and heat exposure.
Luzipo said that it was high time Sibanye was placed under curatorship.
"In the interim, it will be best for the company to have someone competent to oversee its daily operations, to take decisions that will be in the best interest of the wellbeing of workers," he said.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance (DA) called for Sibanye to brief committee on safety incidents, saying that it would write to Luzipo to schedule an emergency meeting for the company to brief it.
Sibanye will on Friday convene a safety summit in a bid to collectively address these incidents and re-establish its safety record.