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May 25 2012 13:58
The costs of the first phase of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project have increased significantly to almost R90bn, according to a report.
May 25 2012 19:13
Uncertainty over the future of the euro zone returned to push the rand down against the dollar.
May 24 2012 17:31
The Reserve Bank will maintain current interest rates, and a considerable reduction in the local petrol price is anticipated, says governor Gill Marcus.
Bloefmofontein - Harmony Gold has suspended 77 employees and 45 contractors from
its Free State operations for allegedly helping illegal miners, a
company spokesperson said on Friday.
Spokesperson Marian van der Walt said most of these employees had
helped illegal miners underground with supplies or accepted bribes
for access to mining properties.
Illegal miners could pay between R1 500 and R2 000 to gain access
to the mining premises, she said.
Van der Walt said it was found that a food item such as bread
could cost up to six times more underground.
Van der Walt said no more bodies were found underground on
Friday morning.
This followed the death of 76 illegal miners at Harmony's Eland
Shaft operations at Welkom in the past week. Most of the miners
were allegedly killed by inhaling poisonous gas after an
underground fire started on May 18. They were working in an
abandoned area of the mine.
Meanwhile, identifying the bodies
continued on Friday afternoon.
Free State police spokesperson Superintendent Sam Makhele said the
process of identifying the victims would continue for the next few
days at the state mortuary in Welkom.
He said 34 bodies had been identified by noon on Friday. The
victims were mostly Lesotho and South African citizens.
"No more bodies were brought to surface on Friday," he
confirmed.
Fifteen more bodies were brought to the surface at Eland Shaft
on Thursday after they were left at underground shaft stations by
other illegal miners.
A Lesotho government official Sethunya Kaqa, who was at the
Welkom state mortuary, said his government had been informed about
the number of Lesotho citizens that had died in the incident.
"The families are coming from Lesotho," he said, adding that 26
of the 76 people who died were identified as Lesotho citizens.
Makhele said no arrests had yet been made.
Earlier, police questioned six people in regard to the movement
of illegal miners in the Welkom area.
Makhele said they would not be charged in connection with the
incidents of the past week.
One of them would, however, face changes of being illegally in
the country and be deported.
- Sapa