South African miners stage strike over safety standards

More than half of South Africa's miners took part in a one-day strike on Dec. 4 over safety standards. At some mines more than 90% stayed away from work, employers reported. It was the first national strike called by the miners since the country's liberation in 1994. The markets reacted nervously to the protest action, platinum reaching record levels on supply fears. Thousands of miners gathered in central Johannesburg to hear their leaders demand the prosecution of those suspected of negligence in mine fatalities and improved pay and training for safety inspectors. Marchers carried printed placards declaring "Safety is a human right" and "Organize or die." The National Union of Miners and the employers last week agreed that the strike would take place on a "no work, no pay" basis. Miners earn an average of about $506 a month. Dr. Frans Barker, executive director of the chamber of mines, said they would strive to improve mining safety. The secretary general of the miners' union, Frans Baleni, told demonstrators: "We are not here for a wage increase, but to raise the fact that we are dying underground." He demanded the prosecution of negligent mine bosses. The union's president, Senzeni Zokwana, said miners sold their labor and not their lives. "We demand safety in mines and we want to show the world that we are tired. Time has come for mine owners to change," he said. "In all incidents of mine deaths bosses appear shocked but without feeling the pain and without changing the way they mine," he added. The general secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, Zwelinzima Vavi, said: "It can't be right that in an attempt to get food on the table we sacrifice our lives." The spokesman for the NUM, Lesiba Seshoka, told reporters: "We've had a lot of commitment from them [mine management], but improved safety measures haven't been implemented. We felt they needed a bit of a push." The conservative union, Solidarity, did not take part in the strike action, but said it "absolutely" supported the NUM action. "It is a pity that so many people had to die before role players acknowledged the gravity of the problem," said a spokesman. About 200 people die each year in South Africa's mines. At the weekend three miners died in separate incidents, including one who was dragged by a scraper at Anglo Platinum in Rustenburg. "Our safety records both as a company and as a country leave much to be desired," Patrice Motsepe, one of a new generation of black mine owners, said. The mines are up to two miles deep, making conditions extremely hazardous. In October president Thabo Mbeki ordered an audit of safety standards after more than 3,200 miners were stuck more than a mile underground for 30 hours as a result of a damaged lift. Mineworker leaders complained there should have been a second way out. Mining brought in about $50.7 billion in exports last year, making it the country's largest earner of foreign exchange.