For the second time in a few weeks, over 400 miners have been held hostage in an underground mining facility east of Johannesburg by members of a South African union, as revealed by the mining company’s management last week. The incident stems from the desire of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) to be recognized on an equal footing with the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) to represent employees at the « Gold One-East » gold mine.
Founded in 1998, AMCU contends that an overwhelming majority of miners have joined the labor organization but still lack official representation within the mine. In May 2019, the Anglo-American mining group announced the dismissal of over 600 striking employees at a platinum mine in Mototolo, Limpopo province, who had continued working despite a court order prohibiting their actions.
The mining sector employs hundreds of thousands of people in this mineral-rich Southern African country, abundant in gold, diamonds, coal, and other ores. South Africa is the world’s leading exporter of platinum.