NUM threatens BEE mines strike

Mine workers will embark on a one-day annual strike if there is a "deliberate attempt" by mining companies to resist transformation, the National Union of Mineworkers threatens.

"Where we see that there is a silent, deliberate attempt not to comply with legislation, we think part of our responsibility... is to withdraw our labour power," said NUM parliamentary head Madoda Sambatha.

Sambatha said legislation on employment equity was derived from national debate, but many companies showed that they had "no interest" in complying.

A challenge facing the sector regarding transformation arose when companies used white women to fill equity quotas.

"Mining companies hide behind the fact that white women are part of the historically disadvantaged," he said.

A debate around describing white women as previously disadvantaged was necessary.

He said companies which had largely replaced white men with white women were still deemed to be complying with employment equity quotas.

Sambatha also bemoaned the number of deaths in South African mines, warning that the union would also withdraw its labour for one day for every death in South African mines.

"The union has declared that it will take a day for each fatality to punish employers for loss of life," he said.

This day would be spent mourning for the worker who died on the job.

Sambatha accused the justice department of not fulfilling its role when negligence was found to be the cause of a mineworker's death.

On nationalisation, he said the NUM would organise workers in the mines irrespective of who the owners were.

He cautioned against "nationalising debt" or using nationalisation as a financial bailout for mining companies.

Nationalisation, not only of the mines but in all sectors, should be used to address the socio-economic challenges of the country.