ANCYL says mining companies have plundered SA minerals without giving back

JOHANNESBURG - The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) says mining companies have plundered the country's minerals while giving little back to the communities they operate in.
 
On Friday, the youth league and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) youth structure held a picket outside the Minerals Council South Africa in Rosebank. 
 
The demonstration seeks to prompt immediate action to halt job losses in the mining and industrial sectors.
  
On Thursday, the Department of Mineral Resources reported a decrease in mining-related deaths. 
 
However, improvements in worker safety at mines also come as many mining companies struggle to stay afloat. 
 
The ANCYL's spokesperson, Zama Khanyase, said miners who risked their lives underground would be left with nothing to show should the companies that run them shut down.
 
“Mines are based in communities, yet we don’t see them handing out enough bursaries, employing enough young people in those communities they are operating in. We have people who in communities suffering health-wise because of the fumes from the mines they are based in yet they are not benefitting in any way.”

The two youth structures handed over a memorandum of demands to the Minerals Council of SA.