South African Minerals and Energy Minister Buyelwa Sonjica on Monday blamed official ”negligence” for the high level of deaths in mines, on the eve of a historic strike to press for better safety.
”I think there is an element of negligence on the part of the employers which all of us need to fight,” she told the South African Broadcasting Corporation.
Her comments came after three miners died in separate incidents over the weekend, and the day before the powerful National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) holds its first nationwide strike of the post-apartheid era on Tuesday.
About 250 000 members will down tools in a protest that union chiefs say could be intensified if employers do not make significant inroads into the levels of mining fatalities.
About 200 miners die in South Africa’s mines every year.
The one-day strike will bring production to a complete standstill in about 700 mines yielding everything from gold and diamonds to platinum and coal.
Concerns over safety in the mines reached a new peak in early October when about 3 200 miners were stuck underground at a gold mine south-west of Johannesburg for more than 24 hours after a lift cable snapped.
The incident led President Thabo Mbeki to order an audit of the mines in the country.
Mining, which generated R195-billion ($28,5-billion) in local sales last year, is the largest foreign exchange earner for South Africa and brought in a total of R355-billion from exports.
Audit
Meanwhile, Thabo Gazi, the chief inspector of mines, briefed the Chamber of Mines and labour unions last week about the health and safety audit.
He said the audit would be in two parts: the first legal and the second a technical audit of installations and practices at mines.
”The outcome of these audits will give an indication of the extent to which mines comply with health and safety requirements, and will also help mines develop programmes of action to improve their health and safety,” the department said.
The legal audit will look at mine design and the provision of healthy and safe working conditions, and the servicing and maintenance of all equipment and systems, including communication systems.
It will also examine the statutory appointments and functions of the employer, managers, engineers, occupational medical practitioners, occupational hygiene practitioners and other statutory appointments as required in terms of the Mines Health and Safety Act.
The content of mines’ occupational health and safety policies will also be reviewed, in particular employers’ commitment and how widely the policies are published in a mine. The auditors will ascertain whether all employees know of its existence and contents.
In addition, they will look at inventory control of all explosives that are received, stored and used, as well as the disposal of old explosives. Water management will be under the spotlight with a focus on storage and usage of water, mud-rush risk, control of water in working places, and water quality for drinking purposes.
The team will also look at pollution emissions from mine sites (such as radioactive dust), water contamination, unprotected mine openings and complaints from surrounding communities and how these complaints are dealt with.
The technical audit will involve looking at shafts and shaft infrastructure, including the winders, ropes, surface infrastructure and mine infrastructure such as second outlets, return airways and water-pumping capability.
The technical auditors will analyse rockfalls, rockbursts and seismic accidents and will determine the extent of knowledge and understanding of rock behaviour among front-line supervisors.
They will also analyse rail accidents, examine the rail infrastructure, its maintenance and the age and condition of rolling stock. – Sapa