SOUTH AFRICAN coalminers vowed yesterday to defend jobs at a pit that is the subject of a row between the well-connected Gupta family and the world’s biggest mining firm.

The controversy between the Indian family, Swiss giant Glencore, national electricity supplier Eskom and the African National Congress (ANC) government surfaced in newspaper reports at the weekend.

Yesterday the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) objected to the publishing of its comments made to the weekend “lekgotla” (assembly) of the ANC, South African Communist Party and trade union federation Cosatu, which comprise the tripartite alliance.