Up to 20 miners could have been shot dead by security guards at the mine, which is co-owned by President Jacob Zuma's nephew Khulubuse Zuma and Nelson Mandela's grandson Zondwa Mandela.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/business/article600645.ece/Aurora-director-defends-deaths Aurora director defends deaths
Aug 13, 2010 2:23 PM | By Sapa
An Aurora director has defended the killing of alleged illegal miners at the mine's Grootvlei operations, saying this was about protecting the company's assets.
"It is simple... if you go out there and steal gold, should I just go down on my knees and pray? It doesn't work like that. We have to protect our assets," Aurora Empowerment Systems commercial director, Thulani Ngubane, told Sapa on Friday.
He said in telephone interview the "illegal" miners were trying to gain underground access by force.
"They (the men) had guns and everything... these illegal miners got shot going down underneath by force. Tell me what more our security could have done?" Ngubane asked.
"It's not as if our people were lunatics and just went crazy. Somewhere, somehow, something needed to happen so there would be a stop to everything."
The police pulled out the bodies of four people on Thursday following reports speculating that up to 20 miners could have been shot dead by security guards at the mine, which is co-owned by President Jacob Zuma's nephew Khulubuse Zuma and Nelson Mandela's grandson Zondwa Mandela.
"It was not the first time that a shooting took place," said Ngubane.
"One of our security cars has got bullet holes because of the resistance of illegal miners. I can show you ugly photos of the cars that had got bullet holes."
Ngubane said the men were armed with guns and were "there for the challenge".
He said it was clear that they would have resisted by force if security officials tried to stop them from going underground.
"It's not a right thing that people should come and try and invade our mine and steal our gold by force."
Ngubane said all mining houses struggled to deal with the problem of "illegal miners".
"How do you manage thugs? It's a problem."
A lawyer representing the security guards, Piet du Plessis, told Sapa that the guards did not act unlawfully.
"There are allegations about people being shot point blank... it is pure, total nonsense and our people did not act unlawfully," said Du Plessis.
The security guards were cooperating with the police, he added, declining to give more details.
But Du Plessis did say that the police were already informed "about the fact that a shooting occurred and that injuries and/or death may have ensued" on Monday.
The Sowetan newspaper, which broke the story on Thursday, said the security company did not inform the police.
It also quoted a survivor as saying he heard policemen saying to each other in Afrikaans, "skiet almal [shoot everybody]" before they opened fire.
"The SA Police Service was also informed of the fact that the unlawful miners were armed and that suspected explosives were seen in the shaft where the incident occurred," said Du Plessis.
He said the police arrested six illegal miners on the scene on Monday.
Police spokeswoman Colonel Noxolo Kweza said she could not immediately confirm the information.
The police said they started searching for bodies on Thursday after the report appeared in the Sowetan newspaper.
Four bodies were recovered. The police continued the search on Friday but said they could not find more bodies.
Police officers were on the scene, trying to figure out what exactly happened at the mine this week.
"We are busy investigating," said Kweza.
The Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) on Friday expressed shock at the death of the miners.
"We fully support the call by our affiliate National Union of Mineworker's for an investigation of what really had transpired which lead to the death in the mines," Cosatu Gauteng provincial secretary Dumisani Dakile said in a statement.
The department of mining was not immediately available for comment.
Aurora took over the mine, situated between Springs and Benoni, from Pamodzi Gold's liquidators last October.
Aurora miners went on strike earlier this year, saying they had not been paid salaries since June.
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20 miners executed - report
2010-08-12 17:17
Johannesburg - Security guards allegedly went on a killing spree at a mine
owned by the nephew of President Jacob Zuma and the grandson of Nelson Mandela, the Sowetan reported.
Police on Thursday recovered four bodies from a shaft at the Aurora
Grootvlei Mine three days after they were shot.
"There's now four bodies that have been retrieved from the shaft," Warrant
Officer Jannie van Aswegen said.
The mine is co-owned by President Jacob Zuma's nephew Khulubuse and Nelson Mandela's grandson Zondwa.
Police, he said, found out about the shooting from the Sowetan newspaper on Thursday.
According to the newspaper security guards allegedly shot at least 20 people at the Aurora Grootvlei Mine between Springs and Benoni, and left the bodies underground on Monday.
The motive for the shooting was not yet known and no arrests had been made.
Police began retrieving the bodies from the mine shaft at 10:00 on Thursday and could not yet confirm the figure reported in the Sowetan.
Meanwhile the National Union of Mineworkers said it was shocked after
reading the reports.
The union linked the incident to the mine's failure to pay its workers,
leaving them "to fend for themselves".
The mine confirmed there had been deaths, adding the killings were of
illegal miners. This followed a push by the police to flush them out, it
said.
- SAPA
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Miners not paid for months - union
2010-06-25 13:03
Johannesburg - Trade union Solidarity's 300 workers at Aurora's Grootvlei
mine in Springs have not been paid for months, the union said on Friday.
In a statement, the union's charity Helping Hand said Grootvlei employees
had not received their salaries for the past four months.
"Consequently, the mineworkers have been forced to survive for months
without the necessary food, electricity and other basic supplies," the
charity's executive director Danie Langner said.
The union's spokesperson Gideon Du Plessis confirmed that Grootvlei workers had received their salaries only up until the end of February.
"So they are looking for February, March, April and now June salaries.
"They can't claim unemployment insurance as they are still on Aurora's
payroll."
Du Plessis said that out of the union's 300 members at Grootvlei, 100
members will still work, as the mine had to be kept on a care and
maintenance programme.
"If these 100 workers stop working because of non-payment, the mine will be flooded completely and there would also be an ecological disaster as 108 megalitres of water flows into nearby areas."
Poor track record
Du Plessis said Solidarity had lost its trust in Aurora.
"They simply don't have the business or mining skills."
He added that it was unlikely that Aurora would list on the JSE and obtain
essential funding for both its Grootvlei and Orkney operations.
"With their poor track record they won't meet the JSE's listing
requirements."
Du Plessis said that it was costing the 100 Solidarity workers, who were
maintaining the Grootvlei mine, transport money in order to get to the mine
on a daily basis.
"They did stop working for five days, but the water level started to rise
dangerously and they had to save the mine." Du Plessis believed it would
take "a lot of money" to restart operations at Grootvlei.
"Copper cables worth R20m have been stolen as well as pipes worth R8m.
"It would take at least two months and R100m to get the mine up and
running."
Du Plessis said Aurora's Orkney mine was in a similar situation.
"We have 40 members there and the mine is also on care and maintenance - the employees go to work because of their conscience as again there is a risk of serious flooding."
Outstanding money
He added that Aurora had promised that all outstanding monies would be paid by June 21.
"But that day has come and gone and no money has appeared."
Solidarity's Helping Hand charity said most of the families at Grootvlei had
already sold everything in their houses "to keep the roofs over their
heads".
Meanwhile two mineworkers had tried to take their own lives, the charity's
Langner said.
"In the one case, a man was about to jump from a 30m mineshaft when one of his co-workers found him and managed to stop him in time.
"A total of 25 people have already lost their houses, while 490 are far
behind on their house payments."
Langner said the charity would be hosting a fund raising event for the
workers on Saturday in Strubenvale, Springs.
Each week the Helping Hand provides food to 548 people who used to work at Grootvlei.
The Grootvlei and Orkney mines were formerly owned by Pamodzi Gold and are now under the control of Aurora Empowerment Systems whose managing director is Zondwa Mandela, a grandson of Nelson Mandela, and its chairperson Khulubuse Zuma - a nephew of President Jacob Zuma.
The company has claimed that it would list on the JSE by the end of August, thereby opening up a channel of funding from Swiss investment firm Gems.
Aurora's spokesperson Thulani Ngubane could not be reached for comment.
- SAPA
