Mine safety audit concerns govt

Pretoria - South African mines scored a "concerning" 66% in a safety audit, Minerals and Energy Minister Buyelwa Sonjica said in Pretoria on Monday.

"The 66% should be of serious concern to all in mining," she said at the release of the findings of a safety audit into South African mines.

"Yes, it's an important matter. It is about the lives of people. We are still not happy with the state of affairs."

The audit was ordered by former President Thabo Mbeki following an October 2007 incident where 3 200 workers were trapped underground for 42-hours.

The minister said gold mines had "not done well" on health risk management, scoring only 53%.

"We think health and safety is a responsibility and obligation to all," said the minister.

Mines scored 70% on mine design, while mine explosives control came in at 70%. However, diamond mines scored a "very low" 47%.

A total of 335 mines underwent the audit. The minister would not name the mines that fared the worst.

Sonjica said the audit did not cover negligence.

"The terms of reference didn't include inquiries on whether there was negligence," she said.

She said that the industry had set standards, but she was concerned that "we are still far away from [those] standards".

On what action would be taken to enforce safety compliance, the minister said that penalties were in place but that they were "very soft" and needed to be strengthened.

The report was completed in August 2008. Since then labour had been calling for its release.

Chamber of Mines president Sipho Nkosi said he was aware of "some delay" in its release, but this did not mean that government, labour and industry had not been meeting.

He said the Chamber of Mines welcomed the release of the report.

Although the chamber had not yet studied it and therefore could not fully comment, it took matters of safety very seriously, said Nkosi.

"We are very committed as [an] industry, we welcome every input. South Africa needs a safe mining environment," said Nkosi.

Sonjica said the industry had improved by 24% in safety statistics. Last year, 168 deaths were recorded in comparison to 220 in 2007.

Sonjica said government would co-operate with the industry to implement the recommendations of the audit which included health and safety training of workers, "massive" investments for sustainability and follow-up audits.

National Union of Mineworkers general secretary Frans Baleni said his union was pleased with the release of the report.

"Safety is a very, very important constitutional right of each and every worker. We only got the report today [Monday], we will study it then make pronouncements," said Baleni.

- Sapa