EFF lambasts Burgersfort mine, department after miner’s death

The EFF has blamed Marula Platinum Mine and the Limpopo Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) for the death of a mineworker on Friday.

The deceased was confirmed as Caiphus Magowa of Madikane village. His body was discovered at Marula’s Clapham Shaft. Magowa was a winch operator at the mine.

The president of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu), Joseph Mathunjwa, said while the mine has had a good safety record in the past two years with no recorded fatal incidents, this incident highlighted the need to improve safety systems at the mine.

He said Marula is one of those that have better mechanisms to detect danger, however, this tragic accident called for an investigation to help determine where the oversight could have been.

“The mine and the DMRE were irresponsible for not taking into consideration the [2018] Mining Charter that speaks to protect lives of miners.

“We also [lay the] blame to Amcu, as a labour union, for not putting its foot down in protecting the rights of miners, because Section 54 (Stop and fix) of the Mining Charter was deliberately overlooked in the process of trying to cover-up the incident,” alleged EFF regional chairperson Ali Maloba

According to a report from the DMRE’s inspector of mines, FJ Masiavhula, an investigation was conducted with the mine management, organised labour union representatives, full-time health and safety representatives, and employees, following the fatality.

Full details of the investigations are yet to be provided.

Johan Theron, the group executive of corporate relations of Impala Platinum, issued the mine’s heartfelt condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Magowa.

“We are attending to the family’s pressing immediate needs in this difficult time and committing ourselves to stand by them in future. We have stopped all scraper winch operations at the mine while we are interrogating the cause of the incident with independent third parties, and in the process of re-training all the operators at the mine to ensure we eliminate similar incidents in future as best we can. We remain committed to Marula Mine and stand by the family, workers, management and broader community in this difficult time.”

Clapham is one of two shafts at Marula and produces half of Marula mine’s total output of 6 000oz of platinum per month.

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