Another sit-in strike at Gold One as company dismisses 50 miners

About 447 miners at Gold One Modder East mine, Springs, have not resurfaced since Thursday night's shift in an alleged sit-in protest against dismissals.

Ziyaad Hassam, head of legal at Gold One, said they received information after the shift started that there was an intention to strike. 

“We have called off the morning shift. About 70 or so who are trapped down there are middle managers and contractors with no affiliation to unions.

“Two employees managed to escape and told us people were being [held] against their will. They said there is a handful of people with balaclavas,” said Hassam.

The mine was worried it might take the same sort of trajectory as the previous protest in October, when a sit-in took place for nearly three days over the company’s failure to recognise the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) because it had a closed-shop agreement with the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).

Some of the miners told the company they had been held hostage by pro-Amcu protesters. Disciplinary proceedings were instituted against those identified as the culprits. The NUM voluntarily agreed to end its closed-shop agreement in a bid to ease tensions.

“We have been in contact with both unions and they have distanced themselves,” Hassam said on Friday.

“We can’t confirm this yet, but it has probably got something to do with the disciplinary hearings [against the sit-in instigators from October]. 

“The suspicion is it's got to do with the dismissal of 50 employees yesterday [Thursday] after investigations into the previous strike.”

An investigator for the mine was shot dead while driving in Springs this week. His name is known to TimesLIVE but he has not yet been officially identified.

A friend, Musa Khawula, suspects he was deliberately targeted by the shooters. 

“He was not a troublesome person, I don't know why someone would do that to him. The car used [by the gunmen] was rumoured to have been in the area in the past few days, roaming around,” said Khawula.

“He was one of the guys escorting the paramedics [who were assisting mineworkers] during the first strike. He wasn't involved in the union drama. I think it was a hit.”

Police said the 55-year-old victim was driving with his wife and two children when he was shot by unknown suspects. He was declared dead at the scene. The wife and children survived with no injuries but a passer-by was wounded.

TimesLIVE