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Rustenburg - President Jacob Zuma must intervene to stop the
ongoing unrest in South Africa's mines, the Association of Mineworkers and
Construction Union (Amcu) said on Thursday.
Addressing reporters at a resort in Rustenburg, Amcu
president Joseph Mathunjwa said Zuma had to convene an urgent, all-inclusive
mining indaba to review the situation in the embattled sector.
"We make a clarion call to the President of the
Republic of South Africa to call a mining indaba on the state of the mining
industry.
"The truth is, the mining sector is the biggest
contributor to the South African economy, yet it is the worst when it comes to
paying workers and improving working conditions," he said.
Mathunjwa said the indaba would have to deal with issues
including minimum wages, housing, skills development and a mining victims fund
for the sector.
He said Amcu had repeatedly denounced all the violent
activity recently seen around the mines.
Amcu national treasurer Jimmy Gama said that rectifying the
situation in the mining sector lay with Zuma.
"This seems to be an emergency situation where nobody
seems to be winning the battle. In a country, the only person with power to
summon everyone is the president, hence Amcu is taking (the) initiative to
request the president to deal with the matter," he said.
Earlier, freelance journalists were told to leave the venue
where Amcu was holding its 'state of the mining industry' media briefing.
Before the briefing started, all journalists in the room
were asked to introduce themselves and the media organisations for which they
worked.
Gama, sitting next to Mathunjwa, told a cameraman who
introduced himself as "a freelancer" to leave the premises because
invites had been sent to media houses.
"We are not comfortable with a person who comes as a
freelancer, because we haven't invited you. We would like you, sir, to excuse
us," said Gama.
Two other journalists joined the cameraman as he walked out
of the room.
Mathunjwa later said an Amcu media briefing at Melrose Arch, in Johannesburg, had once been "infiltrated by other (rival) unions".
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