Audit reveals worrying trends

Pretoria - The audit in mine safety reveals worrying trends and attempts by the industry to camouflage and paint the situation as rosy, the National Union of Mineworkers said on Tuesday.

Commenting on the release of Monday's presidential safety audit by the department of minerals and energy, NUM said a 66 safety compliance rate confirmed its view that safety was in the interest of bonus payments.

NUM was further appalled that over 100 cases against mine bosses from as far back as 2000 had been allowed to pile up at the hands of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) with no progress.

"Lives have been lost in what has been proven as negligence on the part of the industry bosses, yet, the NPA neglected its duty to bring the culprits to book," the union said.

Some of the extremely worrying trends included poor hazard identification and risk assessment processes, slow reporting of accidents, failure to submit occupational hygiene returns and others.

"This is very worrying that the NPA can allow criminality to take place without any proper action," said general secretary Frans Baleni.

"It is worrying that in cases where action has taken place, companies have been fined between R2 500 to R5 000 for negligently claiming the life of mineworkers," he said.

NUM has also called for a technical audit to be conducted as a matter of urgency as the current one was mainly and purely a compliance audit.

"We further commit ourselves to work with all stakeholders in order to implement recommendations of the audit," said the union.

The NPA was not immediately available for comment.

- Sapa