President Nelson Mandela added to the discomfort of mine owners when he announced on Monday that he was giving R10 000 of his own money to the fund for the victims of the Vaal Reefs mine disaster. He was showing extraordinary generosity and a fine sense of public relations, and he was signalling that this government viewed such incidents in a way that no South African government has done before.
Mandela is honorary life president of the National Union of Mineworkers; ANC general secretary Cyril Ramaphosa made his name as general secretary of the union; his deputy in the union, Marcel Golding, is chairman of the parliamentary committee on mineral affairs; that union is a major force in Cosatu, an alliance partner with the ANC and the Communist Party. But the links are not just personal and historical; mineworkers are now voters — and a sizeable block of them. They are, for the first time, people who can claim their rights as citizens. And Mandela was demonstrating his government’s willingness to hear those
The mining industry will never be the same again after last week’s incident. It was going to have to change anyway with this week’s publication of the hard-hitting Leon inquiry into mine safety. The facts alone are startling: every ton of gold costs roughly one life and 12 serious injuries; since the turn of the century, the mines have claimed the lives of 69 000 miners and seriously injured a million more. The vast bulk of this damage happens not in high- profile accidents, but in relatively small routine incidents that barely merit a media report.
Judge Ramon Leon’s conclusion was unequivocal: “The status quo cannot continue.” You can be certain, after this week’s events, it won’t.
Gone are the days when the mine owners will be able to get away with a few words of sympathy and a little cash for the funeral. Nor will it rest with their contribution of R2,5- million to the victims’ fund. The way the mines work, the attitude to workers who risk their lives every day for very little money, the resources the mines put into safety — all this is going to have to change. Expect a revolution in the world’s cruellest industry.
The industry knows this, which is why Vaal Reefs shares fell significantly within hours of the accident. It wasn’t only because production would be affected. The market had spoken. And so had the president.
Editorial: Guns or buttering-up
Defence Minister Joe Modise and his deputy, Ronnie Kasrils, are doing well in fighting for the corvettes the navy needs so badly. It would be wrong of them not to put their hearts into a battle for the interests of the military. The rest of the Cabinet, however, has to take a broader view.
And it is in this wider context that the argument for the corvettes purchase runs into trouble. There is little doubt that the navy needs new ships if it is to be effective, and the corvettes seem to be a good choice to fit its needs. Without these boats, our navy can barely put to sea in bad weather — and are unable to protect our very long
But, with no short- or medium-term military threat, the government needs to make it clear that it is shifting resources from the defence forces to social spending. It needs to demonstrate that its priorities are living conditions, not battle conditions. It also needs to justify military spending within a broad new defence policy — and we don’t have one yet.
The Cabinet is at the moment deeply split over the corvettes issue, as is the ANC, and the last thing the government needs is a fight over some new toys for the military boys.
Forget about the fancy buy-back schemes, in which those bidding to sell us those ships promise to give us billions of dollars for the privilege. These issues may help us choose the best deal, but should have no bearing on whether we do the deal at all. Forget also the superb irony that if we bought Spanish ships we would more than likely be using them to catch Spanish fish poachers.
One can also put aside suggestions that we should be worried about distant, possible, theoretical threats to our security — crime on our streets is a real and present
Buying corvettes should be low on the long list of the country’s current priorities. If it pushes too hard now, the defence force will probably get a firm no from the government. It would be wiser to agree to put the matter aside until other needs have been addressed.