South Deep strike enters second week

Johannesburg, South Africa — MININGREVIEW.COM — 22 November 2010 – The strike at the Gold Fields South Deep mine has entered its second week, and while the company says it is confident of a resolution soon, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) maintains that the dispute is far from over.

Gold Fields spokesman Sven Lunsche has said he is confident that there will be a resolution soon. “There has been no change in status; the strike is still ongoing as is engagement with the union. We are confident that a final resolution will be reached over the next few days,” he added.

However, NUM spokesman Lesiba Seshoka says the union has a different view of the situation. “The strike is going well, the negotiations are not going very well,” he stated.

Following Friday’s meeting between the four branches of the NUM to discuss the Gold Fields response and decide on future action, Seshoka said the most probable outcome would be a call to all members of the four branches to join the strike and shut down Gold Fields operations entirely.

Seshoka said the union objected to Gold Fields’ all-white management. “We want to participate, and Gold Fields has either serious transformation problems or racist tendencies,” he claimed.

A meeting was scheduled between Gold Fields and the NUM for Friday afternoon, but neither side revealed any developments over the weekend.