JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Vital productivity improvements would elude South Africa’s mining industry for as long as mineworkers were killed because of their union affiliation and lawlessness was allowed to prevail, National Union of Mineworkers president Senzeni Zokwana said on Tuesday.

In an address to the second yearly Mining Lekgotla, Zokwana said that the killing of its members was going unpunished and the union would not be able to respond positively to repeated management requests for greater productivity while their members faced threats in their places of residence.

“Productivity will not improve if workers go underground not sure whether they will still be alive the next day,” Zokwana said.

The Marikana Commission of Inquiry and the declaration of people as possible witnesses had left the justice system in abeyance and given them confidence to perpetrate other forms of recklessness in the troubled platinum belt.

As a result of the ongoing instability, foreign investors were avoiding South Africa as an investment destination and he would do the same if he were in their shoes.

“If I was sitting in Canada and deciding where to invest the money, I don’t think I would choose this country,” he added.

However, if all unions were compelled to work within the legal framework, the country would have a future as an investment destination and mineworkers would be better able to improve productivity.

NUM had a tradition of sticking to its agreements no matter how painful they might turn out to be.

There should not be one rule for one union and another rule for others, he said.

With steps being taken to introduce greater mechanisation, new technologies and automation, further education and training colleges should be used to ensure that mineworkers had skills that would make them employable in other sectors.

NUM believed in the local beneficiation of local minerals and metals because it increased local consumption and lessened reliance on other markets, which would help to shield the country in times of low commodity prices and currency constraints.

NUM was committed to refraining from recklessness during its wage negotiations, it did not demonstrate with assegais and spears and made a point of not wrecking mine plant and equipment.

“We are committed to help to build the future of the mining industry,” Zokwana said.