‘Protect miners or face court action: AMCU to government’ 16 April 2020

Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) president Joseph Mathunjwa says it would be detrimental to allow miners to return to work without solid safety measures during the Covid-19 lockdown. Moreover, the union threatens legal action against the state. This after the Covid-19 National Command Council announced that mines will resume production at 50% capacity and gradually build up under strict conditions.

“The DMR [Department of Mineral Resources] got an opportunity to amend the regulations in terms of safety,” says Mathunjwa adding: “It doesn’t talk to what we have been complaining about [safety measures]. “Workers will be really exposed [to Covid-19] because it gives employers to be the ones to explain their return to work – what measures they will take.” He says the Covid-19 National Command Council must answer to safety measures.

“What is difficult about regulating and gazetting how the workers will be screened? There is no detail. It just promotes profits. “We are still saying with 150 workers in a cage, how are they going to exercise social distancing? It just promotes production.” Mathunjwa believes mining companies will gamble with workers’ lives. “Companies have the leverage to manipulate whatever to come up with their own guidelines.”