JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The minority Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) political party on Tuesday called for the nationalisation of South Africa’s mines without compensation, noting that the State should own and control a minimum of 60% of the country’s mines.

The EFF was also seeking a minimum wage of R12 500, better salaries and wages for all mineworkers and the provision of full employment for contract workers.

In a memorandum handed over to the Chamber of Mines (CoM) on Tuesday, the political party demanded urgent and fast-tracked active participation to start a process of transfer of wealth to the rightful owners.

As part of its Economic Freedom Mass Action, the EFF marched in Johannesburg to several institutions that it considered had played pivotal roles in the history of racialised economic development in South Africa.

The EFF also called for an immediate end to and moratorium on retrenchments of workers in all mining companies, while placing emphasis on the provision of education, skills and expertise to South African youth to capacitate them to play a meaningful role in the entire mining value chain.

The CoM said in a statement that it welcomed the opportunity to engage with all sectors of society and recognised the importance of many of the issues raised by the EFF.

“Education is absolutely key to South Africa’s future. The chamber and its members are committed to developing the skills of young people and others who are employed in our industry and affected by the work that we do.

“The mining industry is one of the largest private-sector contributors to education and training in South Africa, having contributed around R3.8-billion towards skills development projects in 2014,” the CoM added.

The EFF also demanded that the families of all mineworkers who were injured in the 2014 Marikana massacre be compensated, along with the families that lost their members as a result.

“These demands are directed to all the mining companies that continue to extract South Africa’s mineral resources. We expect each and every mining company to respond to the demands we are making and propose a concrete programme of action on each and every aspect of these demands.

“[On] failure to do so within 30 days, the EFF and the people of South Africa will target individual mines and close their operations until they come with commitments to meet our demands,” the political party said.