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Johannesburg - Mining firms such as Anglo American and BHP Billiton should transfer some of their mining rights to the people, said United Democratic Movement (UDM) leader Bantu Holomisa on Monday.
Holomisa said the mining sector had not transformed. He was speaking at a UDM youth rally at Freedom Park, near Rustenburg.
"It cannot be right that, since the days when our grandfathers worked the mines no mineworker has benefited from digging our mineral wealth.
"Many mineworkers die poor, while thousands suffer from incurable diseases caused by working in the mines," he said.
Holomisa said mining firms such as Anglo American [JSE:AGL] and BHP Billiton [JSE:BIL] should "offload" some of their mining rights to the people.
"This will serve as an incentive to employees and the new mining companies to promote productivity and to increase competition in the industry."
He accused mining firms of colluding with the elite in the ANC. He said the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) have larger
numbers than the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) but it is not
recognised.
He also said firms were abusing their mining rights.
"They abuse this power during the wage negotiations with labour by threatening to close down shafts when workers make demands."
Solutions
Holomisa suggested that an economic indaba "on the scale of Codesa" should be hosted to find solutions to the country's problems.
He said ownership of the economy is still a pipe dream despite Black Economic Empowerment (BEE), However, he added that socio-economic freedom could be achieved if the government did more.
It had to review the funding model of the "expensive" education system which, he said, had failed to produce the skills required by employers.
Holomisa said the events of 1976, and the killing of 44 people during a strike in Marikana, should be a reminder "that we have to work harder to resolve our differences by talking and not physical violence".
- Sapa, Fin24
