By: Kelvin Chiringa
Swakop Uranium workers at Husab mine staged a peaceful demonstration over demands for improved worker-safety, national secretary for the Mine Workers Union of Namibia, Jacky Karumbo said.
He said the concerns had more to do with drilling and blasting activities as misfires in the mine were making it dangerous for workers to operate.
The drilling and blasting operations are being carried out by the Chinese under a company called Beifang Mining Services CC.
Reports are also that the workers are not happy with the Chinese expatriates whom they are accusing of “undermining the authority of local experts”.
The workers need the mother company to address the issue before they can pick up tools.
“It was a demonstration, basically just to do with safety related issues and the only thing that happened is that a petition was handed over. As workers, we have got the right to withhold our labour when our lives are threatened,”
“As a result of that, people are not at their work-station. They are at work on the mine, but they did not go out to the mining area. All the other sections and departments in the mine are currently working except the mining department until they sort out the concerns raised by the branch,” said Karumbo.
The workers are also locked in a wage negotiation process which is yet to finalise, and Karumbo could not comment about it saying he was not part of the inner-circle.
This is not the first time that Swakop Uranium has come under spotlight for reasons related to worker-safety.
Last year the ministry of mines and energy and the Namibian Police at Walvis Bay promised to conduct a formal investigation into the death of an employee of Husab Uranium mine who died after an accident at the mine.
The deceased was identified as Manfred Gaoseb (42), and he lost his life when a haul truck he was driving crashed into a wall of the open pit mine situated outside Arandis.
Meanwhile, the ramping up of production at the mine has been regarded by economists as a saving grace for the local economy which has been hit by headwinds.
In a statement last year, the mine said it was expecting to drum 5 000 tonnes of uranium oxide (U3O8) in the 2019 period.
“To achieve this requires higher levels of productivity, in particular, mining ore recovery, plant recovery and runtime and availabilities of mining equipment and plant facilities. It is an ambitious challenge. However, we are of the view that the targets are achievable,” the statement read.
