MORE than 2 000 miners have staged an illegal sit-in underground since Monday, 18 December at both the north and south shafts at Bafokeng Rasimone Impala Platinum Mine in North West.
The miners are protesting over a number of issues that include alleged unfair distribution of shares among the workers and the suspension of employees who are believed to be the leaders behind meetings of voicing their grievances.
Workers who were supposed to report for the morning shift on Tuesday, 19 December said they supported the workers underground.
Jero Moeketsi said they will continue to support the workers who are still underground. He said the workers will remain underground until their demands are met.
“We want the mine to bring back all the suspended workers back to work,” he said.
He said the reason for suspension is not valid because the mine accused them of holding meetings that led to the current sit-in. “We want the mine to pay us the full amount of the shares,” he said.
Jero added that they were supposed to get R24 000, but instead received R10 000.
Another worker, Mokgwabone kuriti said the company must stop mistreating its workers. He said they believe that the current leadership of their union was making decisions on their behalf without consulting them.
“We have confidence in the union, but we want the current leaders to step down because they have failed us," he said.
He accused the union of working with the mine to sabotage them, preventing them from receiving the full amount of the shares.
Impala spokesman, Johan Theron said Impala Bafokeng urged its employees to avoid getting involved in these illegal activities.
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“In line with the employee behavioral code, we will address those employees who engage in illegal conduct and criminal acts in a decisive way," he said.
Theron said 63 people came up overnight. “NUM representatives managed to engage workers last night and started the process to address their concerns with management. Hopefully we can respond today and agree and start the process to return all workers to surface,” he said.
National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) Rustenburg regional secretary, Geoffrey Moatshe said they now regard the situation at Impala as a hostage situation because other workers are kept against their will.
He said they engaged the workers last night but couldn’t reach common grounds.
“Workers have vowed to stay underground until their demands are met. This is after we made it clear to them that some of the demands made are based on misinformation,” he said.
Moatshe said workers are demanding their pension funds because they were told by someone that after the transfer from Anglo Platinum to Impala, workers will receive their pension funds, which was not true.
“Another issue is regarding the shares payment. The R24 000 payment of shares was taxed and workers received R14 000. They believe they should have received R24 000 in full and demand the payment immediately before they could resurface," he said.
He said they informed the workers after their engagement with management and they have since rejected the outcome emphasising that they will remain underground unti their demands are met.
“One would regard the situation as opportunistic, people are trying to gain the support of workers by telling them lies. As a union, we are guided by a mandate and have been transparent with our members,” he said.
Moatshe highlighted the workers' health and safety, especially those who are on chronic medication and held against their will.
