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Cape Town - Trade union federation Cosatu has called for the temporary closure of all Sibanye-Stillwater’s operations following the death of two miners at its Kloof mine.
The two mineworkers died after fall-of-ground incident in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Cosatu said it wants all Sibanye Stillwater operations to be paused, not just those at Kloof gold mine, “until the safety of the workers can be guaranteed”.
“Workers are dying like flies and the ineffectual government is sitting on its hands. The Department of Labour needs to account for its failure to monitor and deal with the poor safety record of Sibanye Stillwater,” said Sizwe Pamla, Cosatu’s spokesperson, in a statement.
“We demand action from both these government departments (Labour and Mineral Resources) as soon as possible to avert any further fatalities.”
Sibanye-Stillwater spokesperson James Wellsted told Fin24 on Thursday that a joint investigation by the mining group, the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) and trade unions into the deaths has been launched.
While the investigation proceeds, operations at the mine have been suspended.
The DMR would propose remedial action based on the outcomes of the report. If it was found that all safety procedures were observed, the mine will remain open.
“Cosatu's call is therefore puzzling as they are aware of the procedures that are followed,” said Wellsted. “Due process is being followed and we will ensure that we comply with the decision following the investigation”.
Last week, 955 miners were temporarily trapped at another Sibanye-Stillwater mine in Welkom, following an electric cable outage during a storm.
The miners were all eventually rescued.
