The leadership of the National Union of Mine Workers

CEO and Management of Harmony Mine

Distinguished guests

Workers and Comrades

All protocol observed.

As we are gathered here today to support this TB Campaign hosted by our mining Affiliate, the NUM, we note with great concern that as a country we remain one of the 30 high burden TB countries, contributing significantly to the global TB burden. In 2022 comrades, 54 000 of our people lost their lives to TB and this number increased to 56 000 in 2023. Daily, 200 people die of TB in South Africa. It is alarming comrades, that to date our people are still dying of TB, and yet TB is curable, this is an unacceptable tragedy. We appreciate this platform as it affords us an opportunity to continue to raise awareness and encourage our workers and communities to get tested for TB and access life-saving treatment.

Everyone in South Africa, all of us here are at risk of TB and therefore we call upon our workers and communities to get tested for TB. As organised labour we have waged a war on TB and have declared it a national emergency that requires our collective effort NOW!!! To this end, we have taken a resolution that in all organised labour programmes that bring workers together, we will make sure that we have health screening services to strengthen the role we play in the fight against TB, HIV and STIs. So, we are making a call our health workers and implementing partners, please heed our call when we reach out to yourselves to provide these services at our programmes. And workers we continue to encourage you to access and utilise medical screening services so that you are linked to treatment early. Treatment saves life comrades.

Mining is considered one of the most dangerous jobs in the world due to various hazards, including cave-ins, explosions, toxic air, and long-term health risks. Your health and safety matter comrades. As you sacrifice yourselves every day and go down to the belly of the earth to mine our precious minerals and boost our economy, your hard labour contributes to the success of this economy. Exposing yourselves to all sorts of danger underground, including occupational diseases such as TB comrades, we are here today to thank you and to remind you of two critical things; you have a right to a safe working environment and the right to refuse dangerous work.

We also want to use this platform to advocate for policy frameworks to combat inequality and eliminate TB-related discrimination, stigma and other barriers, and ensure that the TB response is equitable, inclusive, people-centred and promotes gender equality within the mining context.

As part of our ongoing commitment to the response, organised labour is fully committed to eradicating TB and HIV and we will continue to put pressure on the employer to make sure that workers work in safe environments that do not expose them to TB, especially here in the mining sector. We also continue to educate our workers through trainings and workshops that TB is not a death threat.

TB is curable, Comrades.

Amandla!!!

Thank you very much!