An inquiry into the fatal accident at one of Impala Platinum’s mines two years ago will proceed without a key report that the chair believes could shed light on the safety failures that claimed 16 lives. The JSE-listed mining house asserted legal privilege over the report produced by a multinational mining engineering firm, DRA Global. The presiding officer of the inquiry, initiated by the department of mineral resources in December, has twice asked Implats to furnish the report but was rebuffed by the group in the ongoing inquiry, expected to be concluded in about June.
The inquiry could result in Implats being sanctioned or recommended for prosecution. The department failed in its bid to force Implats to furnish the report through a court order, with the Labour Court in November ruling in Implats’ favour. This has not stopped NUM, one of South Africa’s largest mining unions, from lambasting Implats for keeping the report under wraps.
NUM spokesperson Livhuwani Mammburu said all reports related to Implat’s internal investigations had to be be disclosed for transparency and the strengthening of safety in the industry. “We are shocked that this report has not been made available to the chairperson of the inquiry and other stakeholders. We suspect that the findings of that report might be damning,” Mammburu told Business Day on Wednesday.
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“The department must force the company to release that report, more so when it is required by the chairperson of the inquiry. If the company has nothing to hide and is not looking at protecting its narrow interest, it should have no problem releasing the report.” We are shocked that this report has not been made available to the chairperson of the inquiry and other stakeholders. Implats, worth R260bn on the JSE, has already furnished the inquiry with investigation reports conducted by Wenhold Safety Investigations (WSI) and Consultancy and CM Consulting Services (CMCS). It is the DRA one that the group insists is confidential, as it amounts to legal advice and potential defences the group can rely on.
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