MARIKANA – Mineworkers must be valued, the Association of Mineworkes and Construction Union (AMCU) president Joseph Mathunjwa said on Tuesday.

“Our miners need to be valued. Mining underground is the hardest job within the market,” he said at the commemoration of the Marikana massacre in Marikana, in the North West.

He charged that mining companies were smuggling out gold out of South Africa and stashed taxes in off-shore account.

“A [United Nations] UN report revealed that companies are smuggling gold out of the country. The government has not instituted a commission to investigate this allegation and prove us [AMCU] wrong,” he said.

He said government funded a union to tarnish the image of AMCU and to resuscitate the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).

AMCU defeated the NUM as a dominant union in the platinum belt after the Marikana tragedy in 2012.

Another union, the Workers Association Union (WAU), was formed in 2014, it was assisting non-striking mineworkers to go to work during the five month long AMCU strike in 2014. The union provided transport and accommodation for the workers.

Media reports suggested that WAU was formed to destroy AMCU, the union was apparently funded from the presidency.

“We need to have a separation of powers …” he said. Mathunjwa said that he would be compelled to form a labour party if political parties continued to form trade unions.

He said President Jacob Zuma must apologise to the nation and compensate the families of the mineworkers that were killed and injured when police opened fire on them.

He accused the government of copying the minimum wage from other countries, he added that a minimum wage should not be less than R12 500

During the lead up to the shooting on 16 August 2012, there were reports of intimidation and assault between members of rival unions – the NUM and AMCU.

Ten people, including two policemen and two Lonmin security guards, were killed as violence escalated in the area.

Then on August 16, police shot dead 34 striking mineworkers at a koppie near Nkaneng. More than 70 others were injured.