South African Miners Sue Relative of President Jacob Zuma Over Pay Issues

In what will be a historical case South African union mining workers have decided to sue the mine owning relative of President Jacob Zuma. A nephew of the South African president owns that Aurora Empowerment Systems firm. The firm is a black affirmative action investment company which has limited mining exposure.

The workers will be suing Aurora Empowerment Systems to recover about 16 million Rand in unpaid wages and pension claims. The deputy secretary general of the white collar Solidarity Union, Gideon du Plessis confirmed the move. He spoke at a news conference saying that a slave is somebody who works for no payment, and that is what these workers have been reduced to.

Aurora also has a grandson of former President Nelson Mandela as a director. They had originally employed about 5,000 mine workers but production has stalled since March and a skeleton crew of a few hundred are left for maintenance purpose.

Aurora commercial director Thulani Ngubane issued a denial about the outstanding sum due to the mine workers. He said that 80% of what was due to the workers had already been paid out to them. The union figures were exaggerated, he said.