November 24, 1995 - Retyped from Weekly Mail and Guardian - with
thanks.
THE National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) on Wednesday said it would appeal
against prison sentences imposed on three miners' wives for trespassing at a
De Beers diamond company mine.
The women are serving their sentences at a prison in the Northern Cape town
of Springbok.
Two children, aged eight months and four years, were staying with their
mothers at the prison, according to a warder.
The women, from Sterkspruit in the Eastern Cape, are demanding the right to
live with their husbands, but have failed to reach an agreement with the
company.
De Beers' actions were draconian, racist and discriminatory, said NUM's
Namaqualand co-ordinator Fred Wyngard. He said the company was refusing to
let the wives of black mineworkers stay in several empty houses at Kleinzee
mine near Springbok.
Eastern Cape women were no longer prepared to tolerate the old apartheid
ways, he said.
White and coloured employees were allowed to live with their families, but
black employees continued to live in single-sex hostels and saw their
families for about three weeks every year.
De Beers said in a statement management had tried without success to hold
constructive talks with the NUM about the occupation of houses
reserved for
family members wishing to visit employees from the Eastern Cape.
Spokesman Tom Tweedy said the mine had refrained from taking legal action
against the occupants, even though their action effectively deprived the
families of other employees of the use of the accommodation.
At the last round of talks involving management, the NUM and the provincial
government on October 27, the government had said it would make suitable
land available so that De Beers employees could take advantage of its house
ownership scheme.
The NUM had not responded to this offer, Tweedy said, and its head office
was approached on November 6 with a view to holding a meeting with its
Namaqualand branch to address the matter
Tweedy said Num was advised the three women had forcibly gained entry to the
company's premises and would face court action.
"NUM has not yet responded to this urgent request," Tweedy said on
Wednesday.
He said one woman had arrived at the entrance to the Namaqualand mine and
requested entry. This was refused as there was no accommodation available.
Twenty-six women were already occupying 16 accommodation units.
The woman then forcibly entered the company's premises and was charged with
trespassing. She was given a 35-day suspended sentence and a warning not to
enter the premises without mine consent.
In spite of this, she and two other women forcibly entered the premises
again, Tweedy said. All were sentenced to 35 days prison.
The company had offered to allocate more accommodation for visitors,
provided it was used for that specific purpose and not occupied permanently
"by a minority of the wives of employees".
Tweedy said the union, NUM, had failed to act responsibly in the matter.
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