Mineral and petroleum resources minister Gwede Mantashe has poured cold water on suggestions that mining bosses should be held accountable for deaths taking place at their companies’ shafts.
Mantashe’s comments come after Harmony Gold announced on Wednesday that the death toll in a fall-of-ground incident at the Mponeng mine, which occurred on February 20, has risen to two.
The two deaths brought the number of workers who died while on duty this month at the company’s mining operations to seven.
The first deadly incident took place on February 4 when two workers died at a development end at Doornkop Mine in Soweto. And three more employees at Joel Mine, near Theunissen in Free State, succumbed to their injuries following a fall of ground incident.
The seven deaths brought the body count of personnel who died at Harmony Gold’s mining operations to 14 in 23 months.
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) expressed concern, saying mining bosses should be incarcerated for the deaths. “We don’t organise our members to go die underground. We want to see a situation where our members work in an environment where they are safe, there is zero injuries and fatalities in the mining industry,” said NUM’s spokesperson Livhuwani Mammburu.
“But unfortunately, you see a situation where mining companies are pushing for profit at the expense of the lives of our members and that is unacceptable. The companies must focus on health and safety before profits,” he said.
Harmony Gold raised eyebrows on Thursday when it announced in its interim result for the six months ended December 31, 2024 that it has produced outstanding financial results “on the back of continuous investment in safety, operational excellence and higher quality ounces”.
Mammburu stated that government legislation was toothless in dealing with companies where fatalities happen.
“You don’t find a situation where mine bosses are arrested for negligence.
“We want to see a situation where mine bosses in South Africa are arrested for negligence and killing mineworkers in the industry,” he said.
Mammburu said, though cases were opened, it was concerning the police would not go underground to conduct investigations. “The training must start there, where police must be allowed to go underground and investigate. The Mine Health and Safety Act must also be amended so that the mine bosses must be arrested and spend years in jail and the mine must be fined between R20-million and R30-million,” he said.
He said mines have never been fined for fatalities.
“That shows weak regulation when it comes to the department of mineral resources… and no one is held responsible for the deaths.
However, Mantashe denied that government regulation lacked the strength to deal with mine fatalities during an interview with Sunday World.
“The legislation is okay. An accident is a human act. At Harmony there’s been a change (at CEO level) and a change is something that needs specialised skills to manage. Otherwise, there will be lapses if there’s change.
“Human error does not need legislation. It requires the change of behaviour of human beings,” said Mantashe.
Mantashe said mining companies were always held accountable when there are accidents.
“The first thing is that it is the entity where the accident happens that is held accountable, not individuals. And then when you do that, there is always a detailed investigation and an inquest when there is an accident and a fatality.
“At the end of the investigation, a report comes and that report determines what form of accident [it was] and the outcome of that determines what is done,” said Mantashe.
He said it was not necessary for police to probe mine fatalities.
“The police are not specialists in death. Investigation [in mining accidents and fatalities] is not a police function.
“It needs to be delivered by relevant skills in a particular discipline. And there are safety stewards who should be acting in these situations,” he said.
