North West health MEC Madoda Sambatha has raised concern that not all mines in the area adequately tracked the movement of mineworkers during the lockdown, thereby increasing the risk of Covid-19 infections. Of the 271 confirmed Covid-19 cases in the province, 166 were from mines in the area.
But the mines have hit back, saying their safety protocols are on par with regulations.
Last week, Sambatha said, after visiting several mines in the area, that not all are complying with social-distancing, quarantine and isolation protocols, and contact-tracing. This, he said, had huge implications for the spread of infections in the province.
“In terms of compliance, you will never beat mines on rule interpretation. But most of them will always be found wanting when there’s an actual test case. Harmony, both in the two cases [at Kalgold] and the 20 cases [at Klerksdorp], have not complied with quarantine, isolation and contact-tracing.
According to the Minerals Council SA, on Thursday there were 527 confirmed Covid-19 cases in the mining industry.
Sambatha also slammed Sibanye-Stillwater, saying the miner could not account for where its workers were during the national lockdown. “These [mines] are bringing people to the workplace when they don’t know what their behaviour and exposure was during the lockdown. Both Harmony Gold and Sibanye are not properly handling their cases,” Sambatha said. “For this to succeed you must quickly identify the transmitter. Then you must isolate, and do contact-tracing,”
While at most mines only a fraction of employees have returned, more are expected to return to work in the coming week.
Spokesperson for Harmony Gold, Sihle Maake, said the mine is not operating with a full staff complement but that it is following a phased approach in recalling its employees to work to ensure safety. She denied the MEC’s allegations that the mine is not aware of where its employees are coming from, saying, “We are aware of which areas our employees will be coming from using the services and assistance of TEBA (a company that provides services to mineworkers).
“Our approach is to recall employees in the local regions first. The remaining employees in the labour-sending areas and the neighbouring countries will be recalled in due course and a quarantine process will be adhered to, as regulated by the government and the health department. We have also made provision for vulnerable employees who are able to work from home or to work remotely, to do so as a safety measure,” said Maake.
Mines have HIV and TB experience
James Wellsted of Sibanye said all employees are screened before and after every shift, and employees with symptoms tested and quarantined or isolated. He said he didn’t understand the MECs comments that the mine is not aware of its employees’ movement.
“During the lockdown everyone in the country was confined to their homes. We can only assume they were complying with the lockdown restrictions. As mentioned, we have not recalled anyone from labour-sending areas yet, so no-one from the implied hot-spots is at our operations. If people disobeyed the government instructions and did travel across provincial boundaries, that is a serious offence,” said Wellsted.
Sambatha said that when he visited the mines, only Impala Platinum Mine (Implats) was compliant. At the time of the visit, the mine had six confirmed cases; by Wednesday, 16 cases had been confirmed.
Implats spokesperson Johan Theron said the mine is not surprised by the number of positive cases, given the significant amount of screening and testing at mines. He also said people returning from what are considered high-risk areas are screened at their departure point before coming to the mine. Once at the mine, they are placed in isolation and tested. Those who test positive are placed in quarantine and treated; those who test negative are isolated for seven days.
“Through many years of treating HIV- and TB-related pandemics, the mines are better positioned than most other businesses to combat the virus,” Theron said.
As part of their return-to-work strategy, Implats has identified vulnerable employees and supplied them with immune-boosting vitamins and dietary supplements, flu vaccinations and, in some cases, they’ve also pre-packaged and provided six months’ chronic medication supply to ensure that high-risk employees do not have to go to the hospital or clinics during this time.
