De Beers on Friday urged the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) to ”engage” with it, after a protest by Cullinan diamond mine workers over gain-sharing, health and safety, and discrimination. De Beers claimed that NUM had made errors of fact, including referring to mines the company no longer operated.
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) on Thursday said that production at the Golden Falls mine, formerly Cape Diamonds Elandslaagte mine, has been brought to a halt by mineworkers who have downed tools until they are awarded better wages. The NUM said the workers downed tools on Wednesday and were willing to strike indefinitely.
The body of a miner who was crushed by rocks at the Beatrix gold mine at Welkom two weeks ago has not been exhumed, Gold Fields said on Tuesday. ”We temporarily suspended the removal of the rocks last week because it was becoming dangerous for the rescue team,” said spokesperson Andrew Davidson.
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has had enough of the 2010 stadium labour disputes and has now asked Fifa president Sepp Blatter to intervene. There have been a number of strikes over wage disputes by construction workers working on the Green Point stadium in Cape Town, Durban’s Moses Mabhida stadium and the Mbombela stadium in Nelspruit.
Fifa president Sepp Blatter showed his solidarity with the construction workers who are getting 10 stadiums in South Africa ready for the 2010 World Cup. Blatter met with leaders of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) on Tuesday and said he wanted them to be treated fairly while building and upgrading World Cup venues.
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has called for police to investigate circumstances surrounding an unmarked grave near a mine clinic in the Northern Cape. Spokesperson Tshepo Motsumi said in a statement that construction workers found the remains of a mineworker on Wednesday near the PrimCure Clinic in Kuruman.
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/ 25 February 2008
Potential job losses due to the energy crisis are not cast in stone, Gold Fields CEO Ian Cockerill said in a conference call on Monday. Earlier, the mining company announced that 6 900 jobs were at risk because of Eskom’s power rationing. ”We’re working closely with the unions to calculate potential losses. There is nothing cast in stone,” Cockerill said.
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/ 23 February 2008
Gold production for the current third quarter is forecast to decline by between 20% and 25% against the December quarter, Gold Fields said on Monday. This was ”as a result of the total suspension of production for one full week due to power constraints, continued power rationing, and the seasonal impact of the Christmas break”.
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/ 20 February 2008
DRDGold has denied claims made by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) that intolerant racist behaviour was being practised at the company’s Blyvooruitzicht mine. In a statement released by Cosatu on Tuesday, the union federation alleged that Blyvooruitzicht mine management practised racism towards employees.
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/ 13 February 2008
Workers at one of the stadiums due to host the 2010 Soccer World Cup have downed tools in the latest pay strike to threaten tight construction deadlines, their union said Wednesday. Work on the Mbombela Stadium outside Nelspruit has been frozen since Monday lunchtime, George Ledwaba of the National Union of Mineworkers said.
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/ 13 February 2008
Attempts to reach an out-of-court settlement between a KwaZulu-Natal ferromanganese factory and its workers over compensation for manganese poisoning foundered on Wednesday. The workers’ trade union and attorney accused the company, Assmang, of negotiating in bad faith.
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/ 7 February 2008
Due to the country’s power supply crisis, AngloGold Ashanti expected a reduction of approximately 400Â 000 ounces of gold in 2008. Diamond, gold and platinum mines in South Africa shut down production for just under a week in late January because of safety considerations.
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/ 28 January 2008
South Africa’s mining industry could lose up to R9,2-billion in revenue and the country’s GDP could take a knock of up to R5,6-billion as a result of the power restrictions imposed on mines by Eskom last week. T-Sec economist Mike Schussler estimates that the mining industry is losing about R330-million in revenues a day.
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/ 27 January 2008
A power shortage halted production in South Africa’s lucrative mining sector for a second day on Saturday, and mining company officials said they still did not know when they could resume operations. Power cuts described by President Thabo Mbeki’s government as a national emergency on Friday stopped production in the world’s biggest platinum and number one two gold producer.
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/ 26 January 2008
Racism was still a key issue in South Africa, political party representatives said as they addressed a gathering at Saturday’s funeral of the murdered Skielik victims. Congress of South African Trade Unions secretary general Zwelinzima Vavi said alleged killer, Johan Nel (18) had ”no regard for human life”.
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/ 25 January 2008
South Africa’s rolling power failures are a ”national emergency” but economic growth can continue at healthy levels if energy is used more efficiently, Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin said on Friday. ”It is clear that we are running our power system at utilisation levels that are overstretching maintanance,” Erwin said.
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/ 22 January 2008
Embattled South African power utility Eskom warned on Tuesday that current electricity prices were unsustainable and South Africans should expect steeper price increases in the near future. Eskom’s statement comes as the country faces a crisis in the wake of national power cuts.
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/ 18 December 2007
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A third day of cool, rainy weather in Polokwane did little to quench the fiery support for the front-runners in the ANC presidential race: Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma. Voting for the party’s top six officials started later than the scheduled time of 6am on Tuesday morning due to computer-related delays.
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/ 18 December 2007
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Voters turned out in droves on Tuesday for the election of the leader of the African National Congress (ANC) president at the University of Limpopo. It was unclear whether voting had started, as journalists were barred from going anywhere near the voting station.
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/ 17 December 2007
<a href="http://www.mg.co.za/specialreport.aspx?area=ancconference_home"><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/327874/livefrompolo.gif" align=left border=0></a>African National Congress (ANC) heavyweight Tokyo Sexwale on Monday night declined his nomination to the position of national chairperson as the names of those in the running for the ruling party’s top six positions were announced. As predicted, Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma go head to head in the contest for party president.
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/ 17 December 2007
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On Sunday a picture emerged of strong support for Jacob Zuma, overshowing the rest and spectacularly managing to humiliate national ANC chairperson Mosiuoa Lekota. As strong an indicator as it was, some delegates supporting President Thabo Mbeki insisted that an Mbeki win remained a possibility.
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/ 4 December 2007
Thousands of mineworkers took to the streets of central Johannesburg on Tuesday, urging industry bosses to beef up safety in South African mines. This year, there have been more than 200 deaths in the mining industry. Major mining companies said they were badly affected by the one-day strike.
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/ 4 December 2007
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) launched a one-day strike on Tuesday to protest against deaths in the country’s mines, disrupting operations across the world’s top producer of platinum and gold. Almost a quarter of a million union members were set to down tools in the first industry-wide strike on safety, as the death toll mounted to about 200.
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/ 4 December 2007
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) launched a one-day national strike on Tuesday to protest against deaths in the country’s mines, disrupting operations across the world’s top producer of platinum and gold. Almost a quarter of a million NUM members are expected to down tools in the first industry-wide strike on safety.
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/ 3 December 2007
The strike by construction workers at the 20101 World Cup Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga, entered its fifth day on Monday, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said. Workers affiliated to the NUM downed tools on Wednesday last week demanding better pay and working conditions.
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/ 3 December 2007
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 said.
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/ 2 December 2007
South Africa’s powerful mining union will stage its first nationwide strike of the post-apartheid era on Tuesday in a signal that patience over the industry’s safety record has reached breaking point. About 250 000 miners are to down tools in a protest union chiefs say could be intensified if employers do not make significant inroads into the levels of fatalities.
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/ 1 December 2007
Three South African mineworkers died in separate accidents on Saturday, the country’s biggest mining union said. The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said in a statement that one miner died at an Anglo Platinum mine in Rustenburg after being pulled by a scraper, and another died at an Xstrata mine after a mortar exploded on him.
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/ 30 November 2007
Workers at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit downed tools once again on Friday, said the Mpumalanga World Cup 2010 office. It said the protest action began while negotiations between stadium contractors and organised labour were in progress on Friday.
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/ 30 November 2007
Thabo Gazi, the chief inspector of mines, has briefed the Chamber of Mines and labour unions about the health and safety audit of mines ordered by President Thabo Mbeki. Meanwhile, the National Union of Mineworkers said on Friday that more than 40 000 mineworkers will gather ahead of next week’s safety strike.
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/ 27 November 2007
South Africa’s National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Tuesday it had been given the go-ahead by authorities to stage a one-day nationwide strike on December 4 to highlight the issue of safety at mines. ”Yes, we are going on strike on December 4, we have been given the go-ahead,” NUM spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka said.
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/ 25 November 2007
A miner was killed at the Driefontein mine near Carletonville on Saturday, Gold Fields said. ”It is regrettable that a loco guard was injured when he was caught between the locomotive and the loader in a haulage in level 44 in shaft five,” said Gold Fields spokesperson Andrew Davidson.