NUM considering new strike at Northam Platinum
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) is not ruling out fresh strike action at Nor-tham Platinum’s Zondereinde mine, which was the scene of an 11-week strike earlier this year.
NUM general secretary Frans Baleni told Mining Weekly at a media briefing late last month that the union objected strongly to the appointment of former Impala Platinum executive Paul Dunne as the new CEO of Northam Platinum.
Baleni gave notice of the NUM’s intention to mobilise against the appointment and said, in response to journalists’ questions, that the union was not ruling out renewed strike action.
“He’s going to be baptised [with] fire,” the general secretary said.
Northam last week blamed the recent 79-day strike for its first operating loss since 1998 and said that it had cost the company R750-million in unearned revenue.
In an official media release, the NUM said that its national executive committee was con- cerned that Dunne had triggered a “tumul-tuous tide of turmoil” during his tenure at Impala Platinum and accused him of a “divide and rule” approach.
In a specially prepared presentation, the NUM expressed grave concern about the rampant illegal mining and said it was a serious threat to the wellbeing of the South African economy.
Balena flashed a series of pictures onto a large screen, which graphically illustrated the harrowing experiences of the illegal miners, who were often intimidated into performing extremely dangerous mining tasks.
He said, in a presentation to the Minerals Ministry and the police, the union had urged government to take action against the organised crime syndicates that were driving the scourge.
Those drawn into illegal mining were prevented from ever leaving it and anyone deemed to have double-crossed the organisers faced death.
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