South African gold miners clash with police

Protesting gold miners at South Africa’s Harmony mine clashed with police and private security guards Thursday, mine officials said, adding 10 workers were hurt by rubber bullets or tear gas.

“The violence followed the suspension of 578 employees, including some contractors, as a result of the participation of these employees in an unprotected strike action on Saturday, 15 December 2012,” said mine spokewoman Henrika Basterfield.

She said 10 workers were wounded in clashes — eight from rubber bullets fired by the firm’s security guards — while two others were treated for teargas inhalation.

The clashes at the Kusasalethu mine shaft in Carletonville is the latest outbreak of violence at the mine southwest of Johannesburg.

Meanwhile, in what officials said was an unrelated case, 1,700 other day-shift miners who had clocked in for work refused to come to the surface for unexplained reasons.

“The day shift went down this morning and it was later established that they actually didn’t want to get to the surface. So, yes, I can confirm that there are about 1,700 people undergound,” she told AFP.

The company management was speaking to them, trying to establish the reasons behind the sit-in and to urge them to come up.

Last month, two workers were killed and one wounded in a turf battle between members of rival unions at the same Kusasalethu shaft.

In mid-November, South Africa saw the end of the most devastating and costly bout of labour unrest in nearly a century.

The strikes, which left over 50 people dead, started in August at Lonmin mine in South Africa’s northwestern platinum belt, before spreading to other mines and sectors, engulfing over 140,000 workers and costing more than $1.2 billion.