COSATU sends condolences - Tautona Mine Tragedy 27 - 10 - 06

COSATU sends condolences

The Congress of South African Trade Unions sends it deepest condolences to the families and colleagues of the workers who have lost their lives at the Tautona mine, Carletonville. We trust that the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and mine management will do everything possible to help the families through this tragic time. We also send our best wishes for a full recovery to the two workers who were rescued.

We also pay tribute to the heroic efforts of the rescue teams who toiled in dangerous and hot conditions to do everything they could to rescue their colleagues.

COSATU and the NUM are shocked that yet more lives have been lost in the industry and in this mine in particular. Tautona, says the NUM, had an "unrelenting scenario of fatalities" - eleven in 2006 - before the current 'accident'. Two weeks ago an accident was also reported.

In January, three miners died and four others were injured, two seriously, in a rockfall, said to have been caused by a tremor of 2.4 magnitude some three kilometres below the surface. A similar incident at the mine killed two workers last July.

We share the concern expressed by Minerals and Energy Minister Buyelwa Sonjica at the “totally unacceptable” number of miners dying in the country's mines, despite goals set in 2003 to decrease mine-related injuries by 20% a year.

We demand that the Department of Minerals and Energy conduct the fullest possible investigation to determine the causes of the accident, including the NUM’s concerns about the support system used in the panel where the trapped miners worked. Urgent steps must then be taken to prevent any repetition of the tragedy.