MBOMBELA – Vantage Goldfields has until today to respond to demands made by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and its alliance partners.

They handed a memorandum of demands to the management last Tuesday during a picket at the defunct Lily Mine.

The ANC, SACP and Sanco joined in to voice concerns about a number of issues. These included the abandoned efforts to retrieve the bodies of the three mine workers who were trapped during the collapse at the mine in February.

Cosatu also wants affected workers to receive compensation as promised by mineral resources minister, Mr Msebenzi Zwane.

They further claimed that Zwane has been reluctant to meet with Cosatu and its alliance partners in order to find amicable resolution to the debacle.

Mr Thabo Mokoena, Cosatu provincial secretary, told Barberton Times  that the demonstration was incident-free and peaceful and attended by the leadership of the different parties, as well as mine workers.

“The centre of our problem is that the rescue mission has been abandoned. They have been underground for more than 10 months now.

“We are pleading with management to do everything possible to get the bodies out of the ground, in order to bury them with dignity and respect and give the families solace.

“There were also promises made to the workers by the mine and minister to compensate them for their losses.
“This has not been done. We are appealing to management to take the matter up and make sure that workers are fully reimbursed. The last matter is for Lily Mine to indicate how it plans to assist the workers who are unemployed and how it would reabsorb them.”

The union also wants more social investment in the community where the mine still operates at Drum Rock. “They have done nothing or very little to assist the community,” Mokoena said. “Such as providing a clinic or school or road to show they are ploughing back into the community.

“Ever since Lily Mine has been there, it made commitments that it was going to contribute to the community. We are raising awareness to remind the mine of its pledge.”
Goldfields indicated that it would make every effort to address the issues.

Vantage Goldfields chief executive officer, Mr Mike McChesney, told Lowvelder he would respond to the newspaper as soon as he has finished drafting a response to Cosatu.
• The picket was unrelated to the closure of the R38 between Low’s Creek and Barberton last week.
According to police, the arrest of a community leader prompted angry protesters to block the road on Tuesday and Wednesday. The road was sporadically closed to motorists before the protesters dispersed.

According to Sgt Gerald Sedibe, Mpumalanga police spokesman, the arrest of Mr Lucky Mhlongo (33) on Tuesday morning gave rise to the protests.

Mlongo was arrested for violating a court order the owner of farmland had obtained, after Mhlongo allegedly led an illegal occupation of a section of land earlier.

The residents of the Mashaya Compound voiced their disapproval by staging the protest and blocking the road. On Wednesday protesters burned two buses which were used to transport employees to work. They were dispersed soon afterwards and peace was restored.

Mlongo appeared in the Low’s Creek Periodical Court last Tuesday. He is due back in court for his bail application on November 24.