Maravi

(HERALD, AFP) South African miners take five supervisors hostage

South African miners take five supervisors hostage
AFP.

JOHANNESBURG. About 500 South African miners have taken five supervisors hostage at a mine owned by Canadian mining group Eastern Platinum, demanding the company give them permanent jobs, police said yesterday.

A total of eight supervisors at the Crocodile River Mine in North West province were taken hostage at the chrome and platinum mine on Thursday, but three of them have escaped to the surface, provincial police spokesman Lesego Metsi said.

The hostage-takers "are temporary workers demanding to be employed permanently," Metsi told AFP

"They are demanding that mine managers should come down the shaft and address them. We can’t allow anyone to go down there.

"We don’t know what the situation is like," he said.

"We are trying to reason with them to come up instead but they have switched off a two-way radio sent to them by negotiators," Metsi added.

National Union of Mineworkers spokesman Shane Choshane said the contract workers had independently embarked on "some kind of strike" over the labour dispute.

"They decided among themselves to strike, we are trying to negotiate with them to come so we can resolve the issue," Choshane said.

Crocodile River Mine chief executive Ian Rozie in a statement that the mine was seeking a court order demanding that the workers leave the mine-shaft.

"The workers participating in the illegal "sit-in" have refused to vacate the mine and have detained five supervisory employees of the mining contractors against their will," Rozier said.

Metsi said the two managers that had escaped on Friday morning received medical attention and counselling.

"They were very cold, hungry and depressed when they came up but they did not have any physical injuries.

"We don’t know whether the workers are armed but we believe they are using their equipment as weapons," he said. — AFP.

Labels: CASUALISATION, LABOUR, MINING, SOUTH AFRICA

posted by MrK @ 3:10 PM