Trade union the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) says various incidents of mineworkers going missing underground point to possible failures in the implementation, monitoring and enforcement of mandatory underground tracking systems.

It reports several incidents of mineworkers having gone missing underground across mines in South Africa in January and February and calls on the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources to conduct urgent, unannounced compliance inspections at all mining operations to verify the implementation, functionality and auditability of missing person locator systems.

“No worker should disappear underground in 2026. When a mineworker is unaccounted for, it means something in the safety system has failed,” says AMCU president Joseph Mathunjwa.

AMCU states that the Mine Health and Safety Act regulations stipulate that no person may go underground without an approved, intrinsically safe tracking device capable of identifying their last known location.

Additionally, where risk assessments indicate a serious risk of employees going missing, employers are legally obliged to provide locating devices capable of determining their precise position, he says.

AMCU cited instances at platinum group metal mines this year, with one employee having been found deceased a day after going missing; a contract employee having been found alive after having gone missing for 24 hours; and another incident where a contract employee was found alive 30 hours after having gone missing.

In another incident, two contract workers were found five hours after going missing.

“These prolonged search periods raise serious questions about whether missing person locator systems are fully functional, properly monitored and strictly enforced,” Mathunjwa says.

AMCU is concerned that repeated delays in locating missing workers suggest either noncompliance, inadequate system maintenance or ineffective monitoring.

“If tracking systems were fully operational and actively monitored in real-time, workers would not remain unaccounted for for hours underground. Every minute of delay increases risk and exposes systemic weakness,” Mathunjwa states.

Further, several of the incidents involve contractor employees. However, safety standards apply equally to permanent and contracted workers without exception, he adds.

“We cannot allow another preventable tragedy to unfold because compliance or enforcement are weak. Mineworker lives are not expendable. Every worker who enters a shaft must return home safely,” Mathunjwa says.

AMCU’s calls come as efforts continue in the search for five employees trapped underground at a diamond mine in the Northern Cape following a mud rush earlier this week. Contact with the missing workers has yet to be made.