Pretoria - The leadership of the mining industry in South Africa agrees that training and skills development should be done on a regular basis to avert further disasters in that sector.
Chief Executive Officers of the mining industry have met in Pretoria at the request of Mineral Energy Minister Susan Shabangu to discuss safety issues in the sector.
The meeting followed the incident at the Aquarius Platimun mine in Rustenburg, in the North West, last week, where five miners were tragically killed in a mining accident.
A clearly perturbed Shabangu had lashed out at the industry following the incident saying:
"Profits must be balanced with the interests of workers and I want to make it clear that those who cannot mine safely must not mine at all,"
But, at their meeting with the minister, the leadership agreed to put safety first before profit, committing to work towards ensuring that lives are saved.
Addressing the media after the meeting, Minister Shabangu was clear that she would not tolerate the issue of safety being taken lightly.
Although there has been a drop in the number of incidences occurring in the sector, Shabangu said that was not enough.
She had earlier made it clear that government will not tolerate inferior safety measures and will act firmly against those who are guilty of putting mineworkers' lives at risk.
"A lot of work still needs to be done to prevent a loss of lives in the sector," she said.
At the meeting, rock failure was one of the issues identified as the main cause of disasters in the sector.
It was agreed that ongoing research and monitoring should be conducted as a precautionary measure to prevent further disasters.
Compared to last year, there has been a 25 percent drop in fatalities reported this year. Last year, 89 incidences were reported as opposed to 67 reported this year.
However, this figure does not impress Shabangu who is clear that "any loss of life is a challenge."
