Ten miners have abandoned their illegal underground strike at a mine in KwaZulu-Natal since Thursday to seek medical help, it emerged on Monday.
Some had been feeling unwell — one of them had flu — and some were feeling claustrophobic, said Michael Campbell, spokesperson for Zululand Anthracite Colliery, outside Ulundi.
They had come up in a ”slow trickle”, he said.
Ambulances waiting at the surface near the Kwashaleza shaft had ferried six miners away on Saturday and Sunday, said Reint Dykema, spokesperson for the trade union Solidarity.
According to security personnel at the mine, another four were taken away on Monday, he said.
The health and safety of the miners is more important than labour grievances, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said on Monday.
”They [mine management] might be 120 times wrong but we must focus on the health and safety of the miners now to avert a crisis,” said Cosatu spokesperson Zed Luzipho.
While Cosatu-affiliated National Union of Mineworkers’ (NUM) members are among the strikers, there is no way Cosatu can support an illegal action.
The miners have to come to the surface so genuine discussions can take place, he said.
The Durban High Court issued an interdict against the miners at the weekend, declaring the strike illegal and forbidding workers from inciting non-strikers to join them. The strikers were ordered to leave the shaft.
Between 600 and 1 000 workers are believed to be in the mine.
The mine was on Monday providing the strikers with water and electricity. Food was being supplied from the mine canteen.
Mine management has met with an NUM delegation, and a further meeting with a group of representatives of the striking miners is being planned.
While Luzipho is confident these talks will lead to a breakthrough in ending the underground action, Campbell cautioned that, on past experience, the discussions could go on well into the evening.
Mine management has refused to speak to Solidarity, said Dykema, adding the union wants mine management to guarantee its members’ safety.
Although no Solidarity members are on strike underground, the union supports the demands of those who are, said Dykema.
Campbell said the dispute arose after the mine was sold as a going concern by Ingwe Colliers to Riversdale Mining.
”Miners want to be retrenched and then re-apply for their jobs,” he said.
Miners feel Riversdale does not have a good history and is not a sound buyer for the mine, said Dykema.
They want to ensure their financial security now instead of opening themselves to the possibility of losing their retrenchment packages should the new company fail.
The retrenchment packages will total in the region of R60-million, he said, adding that some of the miners have worked for the mine their entire lives.
Police spokesperson Captain Vusi Mbatha said police are patrolling the area but there have been no incidents of violence or intimidation. — Sapa