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Legislation around issues of health and safety in mines should be
tightened, chairperson of the portfolio committee on mineral resources,
Sahlulele Luzipho, said today.
“Mining in South Africa should not be like going to war, where
death is a legitimate and real expectation,” he said following the discovery of
a miner’s body at Impala Platinum’s mine in Rustenburg.
A search-and-rescue team found the body yesterday. It could however
not be recovered yet because it was in an unstable area. Efforts to find the
second missing miner were continuing.
The two were trapped underground at the mine’s 1 Shaft after a rock
fall on Tuesday. According to reports, seven other miners working in the same
area, got out unharmed.
Luzipho extended his and the committee’s condolences to the miner’s
family.
“We share in their pain, particularly as there is a good chance
that the miner was a bread winner in the family. The committee will continually
raise the matter of mine safety and improved methods of doing the work in the
mines without compromising jobs,” he said.
Luzipho urged the mining industry to “continue innovating in the
area of safety”.
“It cannot be profits at all cost. We all have a responsibility not
only to ensure the welfare of miners, but also that they do not lose their lives
while actively working in the mines,” he said.
The South African National Civic Organisation’s national
spokesperson Jabu Mahlangu also called on mining houses to “uphold the culture
of zero harm”.
Mahlangu argued that higher penalties would lead to strict
adherence to set occupational health and safety standards and reduce injuries
and fatalities.
“Every mining incident reminds us that the Nkambule, Nyarende and
Mnisi families are after 105 days still anxiously waiting for the bodies of
their loved ones to be recovered at Lily Mine for them to find closure,” he
said.
“It is equally tragic that an investigation into that incident has
not commenced for corrective action to be taken to prevent similar incidents at
other mines.” – News24
