“Gold One Mine is now putting up new gates to deny us access to the mine,” says one of the workers who spoke to IOL about the mine shutting doors.
On Tuesday, Patrick Phokoje, an Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) member who is also a worker at Gold One Mine, told IOL that the mine was denying them access because of allegations that the Amcu-affiliated members were holding mineworkers hostage underground.
In a videotaped interview with Phokoje, a group of men can be seen welding chains on the gates at the entrance where miners usually go through when they have lunch and to rest.
“I don’t know why they are locking us outside because people are still underground. They don’t want our members inside.
“They have beefed up security at the mine with private security. Emergency services are also deployed to the area. We don’t know why,” Phokoje said.
Members are gathered at the mine to discuss with authorities why they are being locked out of the mine.
It is alleged that Amcu members held some of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) members hostage underground. It has been more than 36 hours, and workers are still underground.
Gold One is a mine located in Springs, Johannesburg, where more than 500 workers have been underground since Sunday after they were allegedly held hostage.
In a statement, the NUM accused Amcu of holding its members hostage. It claimed that at least nine of its members were assaulted by Amcu.
In response to the allegations, Amcu denied holding members hostage, saying that they were also concerned about the situation at the mine.
Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa has denied allegations and said there was no hostile action at the Gold One mine.
“The night shift refused to come back from underground due to the frustration of their membership applications to Amcu not being processed since March this year,” Mathunjwa said.
The miners are still underground.
kamogelo.moichela@inl.co.za
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