Vuyo Mvoko
HOISTING _ the ostensibly mundane business of transporting mineworkers to the surface in cages _ is a growing flashpoint in South Africa’s mining industry.
At least four major strikes this year are linked to conflicts arising from hoisting practices. The most recent, by white miners, erupted two weeks ago at Goldfields’ Kloof mine in Carletonville.
As black miners in wet clothing wait for cages for up to two hours underground, shift bosses, mine captains and team leaders _ who are largely white _ are able to jump the queue because of their seniority. Black miners perceive this as discriminatory, while whites consider it a perk due to their status and, often, their race.
Congestion underground is compounded by the “migration” of workers to higher levels before their shift ends to intercept the lifts.
West Driefontein workers interviewed this week recounted an exchange between a white and black miner last month at the mine which they said showed racism was the real issue. “Get out, hierie lift is nie vir kaffirs nie! Hulle moet wag daar buitekant,” (This lift is not for kaffirs; they must wait outside) a white mine captain is alleged to have said. “Uyakutsho kunyoko” (You’ll say that to your mother) shot back his black colleague.
Workers staged a three-day strike over demands for the dismissal of the mine captain concerned. He was suspended pending investigations.
Clashes around hoisting started at least four years ago, when the issue became the subject of a campaign by the National Union of Mineworkers. Blows and racial slurs continue to be traded on a daily basis at the hoisting points and in the cages, insiders say.
Mine managements say the complexity of the issue has almost nullified attempts to find a solution. Workers insist their bosses are dragging their heels.
There can be little doubt that political change _ and specifically the Bill of Rights in the interim constitution, which outlaws discrimination based on colour _ has fuelled the conflict.
The Kloof unrest, black miners alleged this week, had been sparked when black workers stormed a cage containing whites. The lift was occupied and blacks stayed underground at the end of their shift in protest. A management spokesman said “a small group of employees physically threatened” others from going to the surface.
The next day white workers went on strike because, according to the spokesman, they were afraid of what might happen to them underground. Miner Wiseman Matshaya alleged: “On that day at number three shaft whites came carrying guns. Security officers searched them and found some of the guns, but nothing was done to the culprits.”
Six black workers were dismissed after the incident, according to the shop stewards’ committee at Kloof, and 48 others are facing a range of disciplinary charges.
Goldfields personnel manager Mike Adan says raising miners to the surface at the end of their shift “works almost like a military machine”. At Kloof, 8 000 miners have to be hoisted each day from as deep as three kilometres. It takes two and a half hours for single cycle to be completed.
There were only three shaft systems at the mine which could be used for hoisting. The installation of another would cost R1-billion and was simply not feasible.
Adan said that in terms of Goldfields policy, there was no discrimination on the use of lifts, but stressed that supervisory staff had to be hoisted first. This was because they had other essential duties to perform on reaching the surface, such as submitting reports and placing orders.
“It is a historical fact that there was job reservation on the mines,” he said. “The perception is that white workers don’t queue, but the fact is that black team leaders don’t queue either.”
Asked why hoisting was not conducted on a first-come-first- served basis, he agreed this was a possibility. But he argued that this would undermine the status of senior staff, strip them of “the perks that go with their jobs”, cause delays and break down the mine hierarchy.
Blacks were being promoted: “Why take away their status and rights?” he asked.
But black workers insist supervisory staff should not receive priority treatment. Said Mbongeni Radasi: “Our shift starts at two in the morning. Those superiors arrive at nine, leave at 12 and come back as we are about to end our shift at two in the afternoon. Yet they are the first to be hoisted.”
Added Sam Mosenene: “It’s madness! Even if there is only the shift boss inside the cage, we cannot use it. You are tired, wet and hungry – you’re finished by that time.”
Workers also charge that gas cylinders used for cutting iron underground, together with diesel fuel for locomotives, are packed in the cages with them.
They charge that while they are not allowed to smoke in the lifts, white miners do so with impunity.