2023-10-24 17:24:00
JOHANNESBURG. A group of miners from an unregistered rival union are holding around 500 of their colleagues underground at a gold mine in South Africa, amid a union dispute.
Some 15 miners have been injured in brawls, the mine director reported on Tuesday. The details about what happened are diffuse and there are contradictory versions about what happened.
According to Jon Hericourt, CEO of New Kleynfontein Gold Mine, which manages the mine, the incident erupted on Monday morning when hundreds of miners from the unregistered union prevented hundreds of their colleagues from leaving after finishing the night shift at the Modder East mine. of Springs, east of Johannesburg.
He said he did not know exactly how many “hostages” were being held. There were shovels, pickaxes, hammers and other tools at the site that could be used as weapons, she noted.
There are police in the mine but they have not been able to contact the miners underground, despite attempts with telephones and radios.
“Hostages” underground
Hericourt said there were at least 543 employees underground in different sections of the mine. He added that there was preliminary contact on Monday with the alleged kidnappers.
“The engineers who were working at the mine on Sunday morning were also involved in this,” he said.
At least one man suffered serious head injuries amid the skirmishes, Hericourt said. The mine dispatched a paramedic and a security officer on Monday to remove him after reaching an agreement to do so, but the two were also taken hostage, he said.
The National Union of Miners, which is the only recognized union in the mine, indicated that more than 500 of its members are being held underground by “hooligans.”
“They continue to prevent them from leaving,” said union representative Mlulameli Mweli, adding that there are also women among those trapped. The union “calls on South African police agencies to intervene, to go underground and arrest the hooligans who are holding our members against their will.”
Hericourt accused the rival union AMCU, stating that this group wants to be the only recognized union at the mine.
Meanwhile, AMCU has disputed Hericourt’s version, stating that it was a sit-in protest by miners in support of the union.
The rivalry between the National Miners’ Union and the AMCU was partly responsible for one of the worst mining incidents in South Africa’s history, when 34 striking miners were shot dead by police at the Marikana platinum mine in North West province. in 2012.
Six other miners and two security officials were killed in the days of violence that preceded the police action.
#colleagues #hostage #gold