The South African Federation of Trade Unions said it was distressed at the death of a mine worker at Sibanye Stillwater's Driefontein Hlanganani shaft outside Carletonville.
The trade union federation said that the incident was a result of a ground fall, which led to three workers on night shift being trapped underground.
Saftu's Zwelinzima Vavi said that Sibanye-Stillwater has a particularly bad record on mine safety. This latest tragedy occurred in the same mine in which seven workers died on 3 May 2018.
"It also owns the Beatrix mine where, on 31 January 2018, 955 mine workers were trapped underground for more than 24 hours, following a collapse of Eskom power lines supplying electricity to the mine," he said.
Vavi said that the Departments of Mineral Resources and Labour must immediately investigate this latest accident and take action to prevent any further such tragedies.
He said the Department must also look more broadly at the issue of mine safety and make sure that companies which claim to be struggling to survive in the present financial climate are not taking any shortcuts on safety precautions.
"The death toll in South Africa’s mines this year has now risen to 33, compared with 28 for the same period last year, and 25 in 2016. More must be done to bring this figure down. Workers’ lives must be the top priority, and not maximizing profits," he said.
