The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has announced that its members will embark on a march against De Beers Kimberley Mines on January 14 (next week Thursday).
Concerns about the sale of the mine in Kimberley‚ and the lack of consultation with the unions when the announcement of the sale was made‚ are fuelling motivations for the march.
De Beers announced in September that it was considering closing the Kimberley mine if other methods of extraction were not forthcoming‚ or that it would sell the mine to a third party.
In December‚ De Beers sold the mine to Ekapa Mining & Petra Diamonds‚ a move made without consulting unions‚ the NUM says.
NUM is demanding that De Beers suspend the sale and begin talks with the unions to work out a solution more acceptable to workers.