Hon Chairperson, it is a privilege to participate in this debate, and this Minister's debate is one of my favourites, for obvious reasons.
Official statistics have not been released regularly, but some industry sources indicate that the death toll reached the 140 mark in 2009 - an average of 11 deaths per month. According to the current mortality rate provided by the trade union Solidarity, one mineworker dies in South Africa every second day. While there has been significant improvement in mine safety in the past decade, the consensus is that one death is one too many.
In general there is a need for more proactive, preventive mine safety measures. In this context we need to look at instances of marginal mines, some of which are barely profitable and where there is a tendency to neglect mine safety. Also, there has been a general concern in the industry that contractors are not on the same level in the matter of safety as full- time employees.
While recognising that mine accidents repeatedly occur for reasons beyond the control of mining companies, in the case of seismic activity it is poor safety decisions that play a significant part in mining deaths.
Now, in addressing the critical issues, we firstly want to submit that the quality of mine inspections by the Department of Mineral Resources needs to improve. Secondly, mine managers put additional pressure on supervisors to chase increasing product targets, and that has an impact on the safety of the workers. Thirdly, South African mines should invest in the technology used in almost all other mining countries to predict seismic activity, so that underground workers can be evacuated when the risk is high. Fourthly, there should be closer monitoring and scrutiny of marginal mines, which lend themselves to asset stripping due to underinvestment in appropriate safety measures. The Aurora Empowerment Systems fiasco is a prime example of poor mine management and neglect of worker safety. Lastly, as mining companies go deeper for extraction, so occupational hazards increase. There is a need to ensure that mining companies compensate workers appropriately for injuries and postretirement illnesses suffered due to excessive exposure to mineral dust and associated chemical components.
Investment in mine safety must be seen as a business imperative and not just as an additional cost to business. There should be more detailed reporting in the annual reports of mining houses related to improvements and sustainability practices in the area of mine safety. Likewise, the corporate social investment of mining houses should reflect financial commitment to ex-miners affected by mining-related diseases but still of working age, by way of providing or investing in suitable income opportunities. I thank you, hon Chairperson.