Inquiry into "poisoned" workers

A formal inquiry begun on Wednesday into allegations that workers of a mining company in a remote part of South Africa have been poisoned through unsafe working practices, news reports said.

The Swiss-owned Vantech company in Mpumalanga, 360 km from Johannesburg, mines vanadium, a highly toxic mineral used in the production of steel. One quarter of the workforce is said to have been laid off within two years through illnesses, such as bronchitis and asthma.

A union official was quoted by BBC as saying: "We feel that it is the duty of the parent company to really convince themselves that their companies elsewhere in the world are operating in a very responsible manner." According to BBC the government inquiry found that workers at the plant were exposed to 31 times the accepted level of vanadium.

But Vantech was quoted as saying it was doing nothing wrong and was disputing the inspectors' findings, including the number of people laid off for health reasons. General manager Chris Smith told BBC: "We have clearly stated on various occasions we are committed to a health and safety environment and we are in a continuous programme of improvement."