NUM to kick off wave of mine safety protests

The National Union of Mineworkers will protest on Saturday against what it says are inadequate safety standards at mines in North West.

The union said yesterday that similar protests would be held in other provinces in coming months. Their extent would depend on the severity of local safety concerns.

The protests are scheduled to lead up to a national one-day protest in September or October.

North West has platinum and gold mines.

"The national executive committee [of the union] has noted with great concern the increased rise of mine fatalities in the mining industry, especially gold and platinum," said Frans Baleni, NUM general secretary.

He said mine fatalities were 27% higher in this year's first quarter than in last year's.

Baleni said of the threatened national strike: "It will be a total shutdown."

He said that the NUM, South Africa's biggest mining union, would call on smaller labour groups to participate in the national action.

Baleni said the union would call off the national protest only if companies guaranteed the total elimination of mining fatalities.

South Africa, which has the world's deepest gold mines, has a dire safety record compared with the industrialised world, and deaths have led to the temporary closure of mines, denting output.

Some local gold mines are nearing depths of 4000m, making access and drilling dangerous in harsh conditions in which rock temperatures can reach 50C.

But the number of miners killed in South Africa has fallen drastically over the past two decades.

Companies have invested heavily to improve safety in a bid to refute claims by unions that they were putting ounces before lives.

But analysts have said it is unlikely they will reach a zero-harm record soon.

Baleni said that the union was about to submit its wage demands to the Chamber of Mines ahead of this year's pay talks.

"The expectations from members are going to be high. The negotiations are going to be tough," he said.

Though inflation had been low, workers had been hit by steep increases in the prices of electricity and fuel.

Mines in Africa's biggest economy have been hit in the past by a wave of pay strikes, which dented output after unions demanded above-inflation increases, which employers said they could not afford.