Gold One tightens control over striking miners in South Africa
The Gold One Mine is reportedly stopping any miner represented by the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) from entering the mine following a three-day-long underground strike last week.
The East Modder mine operation has also sent suspension letters to 20 miners suspected of being the ringleaders of the major strike.
On Tuesday morning a large group of miners responded to a call from the mine to report for duty but to their shock, their tags were disabled and they were denied entry into the mine.
Miners were seen standing in long queues braving the cold, stormy weather.
An SMS note sent to the miners relating to the long queues stated: “The process of resuming normal work has begun. It is not safe to call everyone at the same time, so people are being called in groups.
“The situation at the entrance is caused by people who came even when they have not received an SMS to return.”
Suspended miner Palesa Motloung told Scrolla.Africa that some of the miners whose tags allowed them entry into the mine were asked by the security guards stationed at the gate whether they were Amcu members or National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) members before they were allowed to go any further.
“If they responded that they were Amcu the guards tore up their forms and they were told to return home and wait to receive further correspondence from the mine,” she said.
“Our future hangs in the balance for fighting for our rights.”
Amcu delegate Musa Khalipha said he is number one on the list labelled as the instigator of the strike.
“There are 20 Amcu miners on that list. This is to intimidate us from fighting for the rights of the employees,” he said.
“We are now waiting for the employer to send us further communication.”
Last Monday a group of over 543 miners refused to resurface, demanding that the mine acknowledge Amcu as a union with majority members to represent the miners.
Since 2012 NUM has been the only union representing the miners at the mine, which is a closed shop, but over the years NUM has lost members to Amcu.
When Scrolla.Africa reached out to Chris Nchabeleng, the spokesperson of the Springs mine, he said the mine could not comment at the moment but will release a statement later in the week.
