BY REGINALD KANYANE

MORE than 1 000 former Aquarius Platinum Mine workers in Kroondal, near Rustenburg received food parcels from Association of Mineworkers Construction Union president, Joseph Mathunjwa on Saturday.

The former mine workers said they have been living in abject poverty since their dismissals.

One of the former mine workers said: “We have been surviving by eating cats, jackals, rats, hares and wild spinach. Some of other miners died because of hunger. We have been living in abject poverty.

“We are sick and dying from poverty. We have tried all avenues to try to get our jobs back but with no avails. However we believe AMCU’s intervention will bear fruits.”

Another former mine worker from Lesotho said he could not visit his family because he has no money.

“Some of our compatriots have died here and we could not be ferried them to the country of birth because we are destitute,” he said.

In his address, Mathunjwa said that the situation the former mine workers are living in is appalling.

He said he will now urge the Mineral Resources Minister, Mosebenzi Zwane for intervention.

“I am not here to try to drop names but to save the situation. These are our fellow blacks and fathers who deserve better. I wrote a letter to the Minister of Mineral Resources, Mr Mosebenzi Zwane requesting a meeting to discuss how to address the situation.

“This is temporary, not permanent and it is not sustainable. These workers have skills and they can be employed around.  We have been told by them they have been blacklisted.” Mathunjwa said.
He said the former mine workers were dismissed back in 2009.

Mathunjwa added that it was reported that many of the former miners died without receiving compensation.

The mineworkers were allegedly dismissed after embarking on an unprotected wage strike.

-TDN

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