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Gold Fields' miners uncertain

Johannesburg - Striking workers at Gold Fields [JSE:GFI] KDC West Mine, in Carletonville, were uncertain about their future after a notice was handed out on Wednesday.

"At the moment we are still in the darkness. At the moment we don't know," mineworker Bernard Skozana said. "We will be marching like we did today."

Hundreds of striking workers began gathering on a hill outside the mine on Wednesday afternoon.

The miners, who have been on strike for three weeks, carried sticks, pipes and axes as they made their way along the long road leading to the hill.

The miners thought the notice was an eviction order, but Gold Fields' spokesperson Sven Lunsche said an application for an eviction order had yet to be processed by the High Court in Pretoria.

What the workers had received was a sheriff's notice requesting reasons why they should not be evicted.

Lunsche said the mine wanted the 5 000 miners living in hostels evicted because of safety concerns.

Hostels were becoming a "hot-bed of violence" where petrol bombs were being made and plans for illegal action were being drawn up.

However, some miners on the hill, who began streaming down towards the hostel after getting the notice, wanted to gather their belongings.

"I was thinking [of] my stuff right now. I would make a plan," said Skozana.

Security guards stationed at the entrance gates to the hostels were confiscating weapons and searching cars.

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