Miners refuse to surface
"Our employer has made it difficult for us to provide for our families. All we're asking for is for the mine to pay what is due to us"
More than 56 miners have staged a week long underground sit-in at Thutsi Mining in Ermelo.
The miners, including eight women, claim they have not been paid for the past three months and all attempts to reach an amicable solution have failed.
Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) branch chairman Mr Don Sibanyoni said the mine management had not been forthcoming with the truth and instead of resolving the situation, they had made matters worse.
He was referring to a recent standoff between the miners and a security company where the miners were shot at in an attempt to force them to leave the site, but they ran for cover in the underground shaft.
“The last time we received full salaries was in May. In June we were not paid. Instead management informed us that they were busy processing our payments and that was the last time we heard from them,” explained Mr Sibanyoni.
He said the first sit-in resulted in some of the miners receiving part of their salaries.
According to him, follow-up meetings have yielded no results. Instead management has applied for a court interdict, forcing them to vacate the shaft.
Mr Ntuli from KwaNongoma in KZN, who has been working at Thutsi for the past three years, said the situation had become difficult to bear.
“Our employer has made it difficult for us to provide for our families. All we’re asking for is for the mine to pay what is due to us and for them to be honest with us, if they are planning to shut down the mine so that we can go look for employment elsewhere,” he said.
Mr Buthelezi from KwaCeza in Ulundi is also one of the miners who have been hit hard. “This has been difficult. We’re unable to send money back home. Our families are suffering, some of us have not been able to pay rent for the past three months and have since been kicked out and our families are starving back home,” explained Mr Buthelezi.
What also concerns the miners is that some of them cannot access their medication as management has closed all access to the locker rooms. That has resulted in three miners collapsing on Sunday. Mr Sibanyoni said in their last meeting on 18 June, management informed them that they were waiting for investors to pay money into the mine’s coffers. which to date has not happened.
He said the miners were calling for Government and the Department of Mineral Resources to intervene in the matter. Electricity has since been disconnected underground, cooling fans have been stopped and rescue packs were confiscated, making it difficult for the miners to get by underground.
In spite of this, the miners remain adamant that they will remain underground until their demands are met.
Attempts by the newspaper to get a comment from management were unsuccessful.
