South African miners manage to flee underground ‘hostage situation’

Workers at a mine in South Africa have started coming back up to the surface after being trapped underground for three days. The police are calling it a situation where the workers were held as hostages.

On Wednesday, the police said that more than 500 miners at the Gold One mine were held hostage by armed people who had weapons like clubs and mining tools.

The workers were stuck in a situation where two groups disagreed with each other.

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said that some troublemakers had forcefully trapped its members, not letting them go.

But the rival union called Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) said it did not trap workers at the mine that is close to Johannesburg. Amcu said that the miners were there on their own accord and were doing a peaceful protest by sitting in.

Over 100 workers came out of the mine again on Wednesday morning. A worker, who didn’t want their name to be known, told the BBC: “I left because I was concerned about my well-being. ”

“Lwazi” mentioned that he understood and felt sorry for Amcu. Amcu has been trying to be officially recognized at the mine for about five months. Currently, NUM has an agreement with Gold One mine where they are the only union allowed to represent the workers there.

“Lwazi agreed with the idea of allowing another union to organize at the mine, but didn’t support the way they went about it. ”

On Wednesday, the families of the workers were waiting outside the mine for their loved ones to come out.

A woman told the BBC that she had been waiting outside since Monday morning because her husband didn’t come back from work the previous night.

I feel pain. I don’t know when my husband will come back. He is sick. He has a disease called tuberculosis.

My husband is the one who earns money for our family. “I’m scared to go back home because I won’t know how to answer my kids’ questions,” she said.

Brenda Mudiri, who speaks for the police, said that officers were talking to the miners as they came out of the mine.

The people we spoke to said that they were kept somewhere without being allowed to leave. They informed us about fifteen people who were holding others captive. She said that it is difficult to tell which group these people who took hostages are associated with.

The people in charge at the mine agreed with the police and NUM’s opinion that the miners were taken captive.

Amcu claims that Gold One bosses worked together with the NUM, but the mine says this accusation is not true.