Representatives of a group of miners striking illegally at Impala Platinum’s Rustenburg operations on Monday asked the police to act as a mediator in their labour dispute.
“Their request was for us to act as a facilitator between themselves and their employer,” police spokesperson Brigadier Thulani Ngubane said after a meeting with the workers.
If a meeting with Impala Platinum was not possible, the miners asked police to help them meet with Mining Minister Susan Shabangu.
Police were hoping for an amicable resolution to the dispute as soon as possible, Ngubane said.
Shabangu told the SABC on Monday: “If workers are saying that we must come, what is it that government must do to assist? Yes we can assist, but at the end of the day it’s about the willingness of the parties to resolve the matter.”
She said while regulatory frameworks were in place for dispute resolution, the strike’s illegal status made it difficult for the government to act.
Impala Platinum said in a statement: “The more management observes the situation and interacts with the NUM [National Union of Mineworkers] and some of the workers, the more apparent it is that the strike is not about wage demands.”
The company said no formal wage demands had been tabled by the NUM, which represented the “vast majority” of workers on the mine. Management felt most employees wanted to return to work, but the “unprecedented levels” of intimidation and violence were preventing them from doing so.
The company had continued the re-employment process, hiring 7 762 people, including 919 rock drill operators.
The company was losing 20 000 ounces of platinum a week, with 80 000 ounces lost in total so far. Capital projects however remained largely unaffected by the strike.
A miner was shot dead and at least seven people were injured in overnight violence linked to the dispute, police said on Monday.
“One miner was found dead with live ammunition in his body, and another was injured with live ammunition,” said Ngubane.
This was the second death related to the labour dispute. Last week a man was found dead at a workers’ hostel.
The seven people injured on Sunday night were hurt in a clash between police and a group of people trying to damage a mine shaft.
Police watchdog, the Independent Complaints Directorate, would establish where the live ammunition came from because the police were currently under orders to not use bullets — rubber or otherwise — for crowd control.
The mine had secured an interdict to protect staff and property.
A dispute over retention bonuses not paid to the entire workforce sparked an illegal strike at the mine and eventually led to the sacking of over 17 000 employees earlier in February. The company and NUM had since agreed they would be reinstated.
NUM, which claimed to represent about 70% of the workforce, said the reinstatement process was underway and the union expected the police to deal with the “small group” responsible for the chaos. — Sapa