"The safety precautions taken at Orkney were not adequate," National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) spokesperson George Molebatsi said in an interview. "That shaft had lain dormant for 15 years. What precautions were taken when reopening it? There were no alternate escape routes. The miners were trapped like rats. And the ventilation system used was not adequate."

The miners, working 1.3 miles below the surface, were preparing to reopen an area that had last been mined in 1984. In the "pillar mining" system used at Orkney, work is conducted around slabs of rock that separate roof from ground. Timber roof supports are also used.

"They discovered gold in the pillars and were preparing to mine the pillars themselves," Molebatsi said. "Mining activity induces such seismic events. They are not an 'act of God.' For the past 15 years there had been no seismic activity in that shaft," he said. "They began working the shaft in early January, and just about a week later there was such an event."

The 15 men were buried under tons of rock. "We kept on searching for people who were crying until there was no more sound,'' said Hlapane Lefielo, one of the miners who survived. Lefielo, who hails from Lesotho, established communication with rescue teams by banging on a small pipe. That pipe became the workers' only source of air, water and liquid foods for nearly four days.

Molebatsi said the NUM was also demanding a change in the industry use of so-called proto-teams—groups of artisans and supervisors that conduct rescue efforts. Such teams are overwhelmingly white, because under apartheid rule skilled and supervisory positions in mines were reserved for whites, and affirmative action has been slow to be implemented.

The NUM spokesperson said that the rescue team at Orkney was entirely white. All the trapped miners were black. "Workers have got more experience than these people," the union official said. "They may not have an education, but they know best when it comes to rescue efforts. Workers must be part of these teams, which in general only become active after an accident takes place."

Orkney was the site of one of South Africa's worst mine disasters in May 1995, when 104 miners were crushed to death when a cage fell more than 1,500 feet to the mine floor. At that time the mine was known as Anglo American's Vaal Reefs No. 2 shaft. Hundreds of thousands of workers joined demonstrations during a national day of mourning declared by then-president Nelson Mandela following that profit-driven disaster.

Molebatsi said the NUM is awaiting a report that is to be issued by the government's department of minerals and energy. "We have no intention of mounting protests. We want the implementation of existing legislation and research results," he said. About 5,000 people attended a memorial service for the six miners who were killed at Orkney.

Anglo-American's gold subsidiary, Anglogold, sold six "marginally profitable" gold mines, including the Orkney mine, to African Rainbow Minerals in 1998. This move was presented as a "black empowerment" deal—a term used by the government, big business, and the press here to describe the sale of businesses to a small but growing layer of capitalists who are black.

The chairman of African Rainbow Minerals, Patrice Motsepe, is an African. Motsepe's company and Anglogold split the profits from the Orkney mine.

Statistics released by the department of minerals and energy show that nearly one of every 1,000 miners is killed underground in South Africa. The mining houses continue to slash the size of the work force, particularly in the gold mines, citing the low gold price.

This trend continued in 1999: while exact figures are not yet available, Molebatsi said thousands of miners lost their jobs.

On average, hundreds of miners die every year as a result of the mining bosses' drive for profits.  
 
 
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