NATIONAL Union of Mineworkers (NUM) officials and Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi were pelted with stones by protesters at AngloGold Ashanti’s mine near Orkney on Friday, a union official said.
“These hooligans threw stones at us,” NUM regional co-ordinator Madoda Sambatha said.
Mr Sambatha said earlier on Friday their entourage had travelled to two other mines. At Kopanong workers told them they were going back to work on Monday and at the other, Vaal reefs number eight, they said they would not. Both meetings were peaceful.
“We (then) went to Vaal Reefs Moab Khotsong and were told that, before we arrived, this woman from the Socialist Democratic Movement had already addressed those workers.”
However, the unionists went ahead in its effort to speak to workers, entering the area on foot. As they approached, they saw two groups — a NUM group waiting for Vavi and a second group “who are the permanent disrupters”, said Mr Sambatha.
“As we advanced, these hooligans threw stones at us,” he said.
Sapa
* This article was first published in Sunday Times: Business Times
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