> > > Business Report > > > *ANC condemns killing of illegal miners at Aurora mine * > > > *Ellis Mnyandu, Wiseman Khuzwayo, Sapa and Bloomberg, Business Report, > Johannesburg, 13 August 2010* > > The ugly face of South African mining came into sharper focus yesterday > as police recovered the bodies of at least four illegal miners allegedly > shot dead by Aurora security guards. > > The Sowetan reported yesterday that 20 illegal miners had been shot dead > in a confrontation with the security guards at an East Rand mine owned > by Khulubuse Zuma, a nephew of President Jacob Zuma, and Zondwa Mandela, > a grandson of former president Nelson Mandela. > > Zuma and Mandela are the chairman and chief executive, respectively, of > Aurora Empowerment System, the cash-strapped mining firm that made > headlines in June for not paying workers and failing to pump toxic water > from under the mine. It was not immediately clear whether the dead were > among the miners who had not been paid. > > "It's an unfortunate situation," Zuma said, describing what the illegal > miners were doing as "pure crime". > > "What they are doing they're not supposed to be doing." > > South African mines have been plagued by illegal mining for several > years, prompting Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu in June last > year to promise to stamp it out. Shabangu said at the time that a forum > would be formed to deal with the problem. > > Efforts to reach Jeremy Michaels, the spokesman for the Department of > Mineral Resources, were unsuccessful late yesterday afternoon and by > 5.30pm the department had not issued a statement. > > In a statement issued last night, ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu said the > party "condemns in the strongest terms the senseless killing of illegal > miners at the Aurora mine". > > Mthembu said the mine management and the responsible security company > should have sought the assistance of the SAPS on suspicion of crime > being committed in their mine, rather than shooting at first instance. > > National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) spokesman Lesiba Seshoka said the > union linked the incident to the mine's failure to pay its workers, > leaving them "to fend for themselves". > > "The NUM calls for an urgent investigation into these allegations and > whether or not these were indeed illegal miners," Seshoka said. > > Noxolo Kweza, a police spokeswoman at the mine, said: "We don't know > what happened, at this stage we're investigating. We have found four > bodies underground. We don't know if there are more." > > The SAPS and Ekurhuleni Emergency Services declined to comment on > whether the deaths resulted from gunfire by the mine security. > > However, Leiis Landley, the general manager of the Grootvlei mine, > confirmed that security had been underground investigating equipment > that was extensively vandalised. > > He said there had been an encounter with the illegal miners and shots > were fired. > > Sam Sithole from Mozambique was one of five survivors. > > He said he lost two brothers, Marthinus and Kenny Sithole. > > He said when the security people arrived at about 9am on Monday morning, > he switched off his searchlight and was able to get out at 3pm when > everything was quite. > > He said there were many people underground although he did not know most > of them. > > Johny Sithole from Randfontein was also there to try and identify his > uncle, Johannes Stokwana, who had a wife and an eight-month-old baby. > > Paulos Mkhabela of Duduza in Nigel said he transported five of the > miners to the shaft on Sunday afternoon and expected to fetch them on > Monday. > > *From: > http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=552&fArticleId=5599830 > <http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=552&fArticleId=5599830>* > * * > * * > > -- > You are subscribed. This footer can help you. > Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to > this message. > You can visit the group WEB SITE at > http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery > options, pages, files and membership. > To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] > . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have > to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an > e-mail to this address (repeat): > [email protected] . >
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