An overstretched judiciary is hampering attempts to prosecute those responsible for mining accidents, South Africa’s minerals and energy minister said on Thursday.
Mining companies in South Africa, the world’s top source of platinum and gold, are under pressure to improve safety at mines, where about 200 workers have been killed in accidents this year, prompting 240 000 miners in the biggest miners’ union to strike on Tuesday in a countrywide protest.
South Africa’s National Union of Mineworkers said the stoppage was also aimed at urging the government to prosecute negligent mine managers.
”We are looking at tightening the mining health and safety policy, but the problem … is to charge,” Buyelwa Sonjica, South Africa’s Minerals and Energy Minister, told reporters.
”We investigate the cases, we hand them over to the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development and because they have capacity limitations, we have a problem of seeing a completion of that process,” Sonjica said.
The strike affected output across the industry, with Anglo Platinum saying it lost a full-day’s output of 9 000 refined platinum ounces, which helped to send the metal’s price higher due to supply concerns.
Other major mining houses affected included AngloGold Ashanti, which also lost a day’s output but could not give an exact figure and Impala Platinum, which lost 3 500 ounces of the metal. Gold Fields, Harmony Gold and coal producer BHP Billiton were also hit.
Miners have died in rockfalls and explosions, making South Africa’s mines, some of which are the world’s deepest, among the most dangerous worldwide. The number of miners killed in 2006 was 199, while 202 died in 2005.
Sonjica reiterated the government’s stance of closing down mining operations every time a death occurred.
”At the end of the day the culprit must be brought to book and at this stage we have not been able to bring the culprits to book,” Sonjica said. — Reuters