Gold Fields sneaks in essential staff with no end in sight to two-week-old strike
Small teams are using secret entrances to enter the mine and sometimes have to be smuggled in during the night to pump water, monitor equipment and undertake general maintenance work
Gold Fields is having to sneak maintenance teams into its South Deep mine after protesters shot at vehicles trying to enter the site, where workers have been on strike since November 2. Small teams of essential workers are using secret entrances to enter the mine and sometimes have to be smuggled in during the night to pump water, monitor equipment and undertake general maintenance work, company spokesperson Sven Lunsche said. Protesters fired live ammunition at vehicles trying to enter South Deep and petrol bombs were recovered at one of the shaft entrances, the company said on its website. “We are using back routes, sometimes essential teams have to enter in the middle of the night,” Lunsche said. “We have to do it in a secretive way, using different entrances and changing routes all the time to avoid the striking workers.” Workers embarked on a strike at Gold Fields’s last remaining operation in SA. They’re protesting the company’s plans to cut more than 1,500 jobs to turn around...
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