'Protestors with axes threatened to chop my head off' - Gold One worker

An employee at the troubled Gold One mine has told of how he escaped an attack by his colleagues outside the company’s gates and moments later his car was torched. 

Prince Radebe was reporting for work yesterday morning when he met a group of angry mine workers who claimed to belong to the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu). They had been protesting outside the mine gates over their suspensions linked to the hostage drama that unfolded at the mine in Spring, Ekurhuleni, last month. 

He said the mine had instructed essential workers to come to work and that one of his female colleague had called him after she was stopped from entering the company’s premises by the protesting group.

“She eventually went home and called me. I told her that I would go with her and when we got there, the protestors threatened us and they wouldn’t allow us in,” Radebe said. 

He said when they tried to leave, the protestors blocked the car from driving off.

“They were very aggressive and I was so scared. They had knives and axes; some were wearing balaclavas and they kept threatening to chop my head off. I just got out of the car and ran off, scared for my safety. I could hear them running after me and I managed to hide behind some bushes and trees. I don’t know how long I was there for, but I didn’t even know they had torched my car until I saw it myself,” said Radebe. 

The protestors told Sowetan they were not the ones responsible for torching the car.

The workers had been protesting throughout the weekend following the mine’s decision to suspend operations in light of employee safety on Thursday.

Last month the company placed 34 labourers on suspension on charges relating to participating in the sit-in underground, which turned into a hostage situation. Amcu accused the mine of failing to award it organisational rights and of colluding with the National Union of Mine workers, which for years enjoyed dominance at the mine. 

A mine worker who wanted to remain anonymous said he did not do anything wrong. 

“The police have been here the whole weekend, they didn’t fire teargas or rubber bullets at us on Saturday or Sunday, so why did they have to shoot at us today? People have been arrested, cars have been impounded and some people have been hospitalised.” said the worker. 

Amcu president, Joseph Mathunjwa, said the workers who were protesting were not fully registered Amcu members.

“We were told that it was a community protesting as a result of operations being suspended to deal with the deliberations and so it is not correct to suggest that Amcu members are on strike as we don’t have members there, we have potential members. Amcu has filed an interdict so we can’t be protesting ,” said Mathunjwa.

Gold One Mine’s legal head Ziyaad Hassam said the company had asked Amcu to speak to its members to show some restraint until the conclusion of the court processes. 

“We have communicated with Amcu that since there is a court process and that we are not opposing that court process, we urge them to show some restraint and to communicate with members to show some restraint because we are abiding by the time frames that they have asked the labour court to implement,” said Hassam. 

He added that the mine had been running with limited employees since the hostage episode.