COSATU welcomes progress in mining health and safety

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) welcomes the progress made by the mining industry and the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources in ensuring workers’ health and safety at work.

Releasing the mining occupational health and safety statistics for 2024 on Thursday, the Minister for Mineral and Petroleum Resources, Mr. Gwede Mantashe, reported that the industry had registered the lowest number of mineworkers who died on the job at 42 deaths. This was a record low and a 24% drop from 55 deaths in 2023. The previous record low was registered in 2022 at 49 deaths; sadly, the death of 13 mineworkers in a conveyance accident in the platinum sector in 2023 derailed the downward trend that year.

Much as progress in keeping mineworkers safe and healthy at work is notable, it is important to point out that 42 deaths are still too high for an industry that has set itself the goal of Zero Harm. COSATU agrees with Minister Mantashe that these are not merely statistics, and that behind these numbers are workers with families, dependents and colleagues. The blow to families is aggravated by the loss of their breadwinners. For this reason, the industry and the department must continue to strive toward their stated goal of Zero Harm.

It is critical that Minister Mantashe ensures the department tables the long-awaited Mine Health and Safety Amendment Bill at Parliament as it will help strengthen protections for mineworkers and compel employers to tighten safety mechanisms.

With the devastating outcome of government’s operation at Stilfontein still uppermost in everyone’s mind, the Federation is acutely aware that these improved statistics do not include illegal mining fatalities. Minister Mantashe has maintained his stance that illegal mining is a criminal activity that has robbed the economy of an estimated R60 billion in illicit precious metal trade in 2024 alone. The Minister has vowed that government will continue with Operation Vala Umgodi, the very operation that saw 78 dead bodies hoisted up from the Stilfontein mine. However, the reality is the country cannot stomach another calamity of that scale. It is therefore imperative that Minister Mantashe and the department join hands with other mining stakeholders to develop more palatable means to deal with the scourge of illegal mining.

COSATU’s Affiliate, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), has continuously led from the front and advocated for the legalisation and regulation of artisanal mining to stem the illicit outflows of billions of Rands from the economy and to ensure that artisanal miners contribute their share of taxes into the fiscus. We call on Minister Mantashe to give serious consideration to this idea given the ongoing rampant retrenchments in the mining industry and the extremely high unemployment rate of 41.9% in the country.        

A 16% improvement in occupational injuries was registered from 2,181 in 2023 to 1,841 last year. Occupational disease cases recorded dropped 17% from 2,233 in 2023 to 1,864 in 2024, aided by the manganese, iron, chrome, coal, platinum sectors, etc. An accompanying decrease in silicosis, pulmonary TB, Coal Workers Pneumoconiosis and other diseases was also registered. While we note the significant drop, we remain deeply concerned by the gold sector as it continues to report high numbers of occupational diseases for both silicosis and TB.

COSATU urges all workers who have suffered TB in the mines or any other lung disease to follow the necessary process to check their eligibility to claim for compensation from the Medical Bureau of Occupational Diseases (MBOD). This also applies to ex-mineworkers who contracted TB or silicosis from working in gold mines during specific periods between 12 March 1965 and 10 December 2019. Should the mineworkers be deceased, their dependants will be eligible to claim for compensation.

Any mineworker who worked in these mines for more than five years is entitled to a free medical benefit examination to determine whether they have silicosis or TB as defined in the trust deed. Should they test positive for these diseases, they will be eligible for compensation. The amount of compensation will depend on the nature of the eligible claimant’s illness.

The Federation further wishes to remind workers that a person who works or has worked on a mine has a lifelong right to two-yearly medical examinations to determine whether they have an occupational lung disease. This service is provided free by the Department of Health.

COSATU is committed to ensuring the that the health and safety of all workers is prioritised and will not rest until this ideal is achieved.

Issued by COSATU

Zanele Sabela (National Spokesperson)

Mobile: 079 287 5788

Email: zaneles@cosatu.org.za