Sibanye Stillwater must account for recurring accidents

Issued by Refiloe Nt'sekhe MPL – DA National Spokesperson
04 May 2018 in News

The DA will write to the Minister of Mineral Resources, Gwede Mantashe, requesting that he takes urgent steps, through the Mining Health and Safety Inspectorate, to hold Sibanye Stillwater accountable for the recurring accidents at its mining operations around the country.

The latest incident at its Masakhane mine in Driefontein on the West Rand has claimed 4 miners, while 6 remain unaccounted for after they were trapped underground due to seismic activity.

The DA finds it unacceptable that mining management failed to take active steps to prevent this accident from happening, instead chose to continue with mining operations despite clear evidence of seismic activity in the area.

It is reported that the first seismic event occurred 12:23, followed by another at 13:17 and at 13:30, which eventually led to the collapse of the ground.

There have also been reports that another 2 seismic events have occurred this afternoon.

The DA is concerned that Sibanye Stillwater has not accounted for most of the mining accidents that have occurred in the mining industry in the past few months.

Of late, mining accidents that have occurred at Sibanye Stillwater mines include:

On 1 February 2018, 955 Sibanye Gold mine workers were rescued after being trapped underground for over a day at the Sibanye-Stillwater gold mine in the Free State.On 13 February 2018 in Johannesburg, a mineworker died after he was crushed by a box of gold ore at Sibanye-Stillwater’s Masakhane shaft, at its Driefontein Operations outside of Carletonville.On 7 February 2018 in Johannesburg, rescue operations were suspended after two trapped miners were confirmed dead at the Kloof Ikamva shaft of Sibanye-Stillwater’s mine in Gauteng.On 23 March 2018, 79 mineworkers were trapped underground on Thursday at around 4 pm and were recused at 9 pm after a five-hour ordeal at the Kloof Thuthukani Shaft in Westonaria.

The safety of miners cannot be put at risk in the pursuit of profit. Sibanye Stillwater has an obligation to explain why these incidents have continued to occur in the interest of miners who put their lives at risk on a daily basis.