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Press Statement: 25 March 2014
NUM` General Secretary Frans Baleni`s views on TB Awareness Event taking place at Sandton Convention Centre
As the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) we shall effusively endorse all efforts and struggles to fight TB in the mining industry because it does not only decimate members of NUM it destroys the legacy of our struggles .Most importantly it devours the very foundation of our existence.
It is in this context we are fully participative and active during TB Awareness campaigns. We urge our members to avail themselves for tests to establish that status so that remedial intervention could be undertaken at early stages for a sustainable livelihood.
All cooperative measures between and amongst stakeholders should be enhanced passionately. We know that this battle rattles mainly the working class and largely black people in this regard it characterises itself as an antithesis to the vision of a better life for all , a vision that is torch-bearing for South Africa`s development .
As NUM we are fully behind this dauntless companionship to free our members and mineworkers in general from the grip of the malicious malady that has consumed families of workers and haunted the industry for so long without failing, outstandingly the gold sector.
The effective remedy to all interventions is improved working and living conditions for mineworkers because interventions may not be sustainable in the context of conditions to create an environment for the spread of the contagious disease.
We expect our delegation led by the Deputy President of NUM and National Secretary of Health and Safety to do all in its power to profile the importance of this battle not as an event but a continuous struggle side by side with living wage. To this effect we need a formidable partnership and from today we should march together in tandem in waging war against doing business with disease.
Our intervention should address cross border profusion of TB in the context of mining characterised by a migratory movement of the labour force travelling as far as Eastern Cape, Lesotho, Swaziland, and etc. Ex Mineworkers should also be encompassed in waging a comprehensive battle to the disease”
Frans Baleni- (NUM General Secretary) 082 375 6443
National Union of Mineworkers
Its birth was facilitated by comrades Cyril Ramaphosa who rose to be its first General Secretary, James Motlatsi who turned to be its first President, and Elijah Barayi who became its Vice President and later the President of Cosatu in 1985 when the federation was formed. porn