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Monday, 14 August 2017 16:07

In our Monday roundup, see summaries
of our selection of South African labour-
related stories that have appeared since
midday on Friday, 11 August 2017.

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Friday, 11 August 2017 12:48

Business Report writes that the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) is considering a national strike in a bid to oppose the jobs bloodbath as 20 000 mining industry employees face the possibility of being retrenched.

Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa told journalists ahead of the fifth anniversary of the Marikana Massacre that the strike would follow after a planned awareness march to the Union Buildings in Pretoria.

“Strike action is a part of labour relations. If this awareness march to the Union Buildings does not bring sense to these employers, the next step is to consider approaching the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration to issue a certificate of non resolution that will permit our members to participate in a protected strike,” Mathunjwa said.

Last week Amcu’s archrival, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), led a march to AngloGold Ashanti’s headquarters in Johannesburg to oppose the job losses.

AngloGold Ashanti, the world’s fifth biggest gold producer, announced plans to cut 8 500 jobs, 7 400 jobs are on the line at Sibanye Gold and Bokoni Platinum also planned to cut 2 651 jobs.

The job cuts come as the gazetting of the Mining Charter III added uncertainty in mining, which grappled with rising input costs, volatile commodity prices and South Africa’s recession.

He said a strike would not plunge employees into financial difficulties, particularly in the gold sector, where employers gave employees increases linked to inflation over the past five years.

“They are poorly paid, and they are facing chronic diseases like silicosis, they are worse off. It is better to fight before you die. The whole mining sector should shut down. We should have a revolution in mining, whether it is coal, platinum or iron ore, to say let us break this structure,” he said.

Mathunjwa also weighed in on the uncertainty in the mining industry since Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane gazetted the Mining Charter III.

“There is no direction in mining, we do not take what Zwane is saying seriously in a nutshell,” he said.

Last month, the (NUM) said that Zwane was the worst Mineral Resources Minster since 1994, and planned to request that President Jacob Zuma fire him.

In the latest move, Zwane backtracked on a decision to implement the moratorium on issuing mining licences last week, saying that he would use other legal instruments at his disposal to achieve a social economic impact.

“He (Zwane) is backtracking, because he spoke of something that his ruling party was not in agreement with. So now the question will be with whom has he consulted?

“We are in a crisis in South Africa, some of these department are dysfunctional, no one knows what the other hand is doing.” He did not believe that the charter was enforcible.

“It is an image kind of a document, you cannot enforce the charter, it is a code of good practice.

“During the economic boom, it is when the charter should have been enforced. Now the economy is in a downward trajectory, now you want to enforce the charter, because you are pushing a narrative of radical economic transformation without considering the negative economic impact,” he said.

Around R51 billion was lost in market capitalisation of JSElisted mining companies when the charter was gazetted on June 15.

The original of this report by Dineo Faku is on page 15 of Business Report of 11 August 2017

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Thursday, 10 August 2017 15:39

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Thursday, 10 August 2017 13:35

Business Report writes that, as the Chamber of Mines on Tuesday defended itself against claims by Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane – that it was trying to block transformation in the industry – with counter-allegations of transparency, Gold Fields chief executive Nick Holland said the mining company would favour talks to resolve issues regarding the charter over court action.

Holland told Bloomberg television the issue might affect other companies considering restructuring or deals, but that it was not affecting Gold Fields operations or plans.

He said it was unclear how the court challenge against the third version of the mining charter would pan out.

The charter process had followed a lack of consultation with industry, he said.

The charter, among other stipulations, requires that new mining rights must have a 30 percent black ownership and that a holder of a new mining right pay 1 percent of turnover to black shareholders prior to any distribution to shareholders.

The chamber applied to the court for an urgent interdict against the implementation of the charter, which was gazetted on June 15. In a surprise move, Zwane backtracked on his decision for a moratorium on the granting of new mining licences.

Responding to comments by Zwane, the chamber on Tuesday said it was not true that it was opposed to the transformation of the mining industry.

“The chamber’s only proviso is that real transformation must be implemented with due regard to what is achievable, bearing in mind the realities of the situation the industry faces,” it said.

The chamber also charged that transformation advocated in the charter was designed to benefit the interests of a select few, while killing any appetite for investment and leading to further job losses.

“The Department of Mineral Resources (DMR’s) Reviewed Charter is designed to extract billions of rand in revenues annually from mining right holders into an agency controlled solely by the Minister of Mineral Resources. This agency has no governance in place and the irresistible conclusion is that its purpose is not to benefit transformation,” it said.

About 20 000 mineworkers are facing the threat of retrenchments after Sibanye Gold, AngloGold Ashanti and Atlatsa Resources said they planned to mothball loss-making shafts.

The chamber blamed the DMR for having no transparency and for not indicating who would access the funds, and how the funds would be accountable.

“This is further an unconstitutional attempt to collect an additional tax,” the chamber said.

Zwane on Monday finally submitted an answering affidavit to the chamber’s application to interdict the charter.

This after Judge Ramarumo Monama criticised him for “disrespecting” the court for missing the deadline for filing court documents.

Zwane accused the chamber of making “an attempt to block effective and meaningful participation of black persons in the mining and minerals industry”.

Zwane also blamed the chamber for overstating the impact of the charter.

“The applicant’s complaint that R50 billion has been wiped off mining stocks is, with respect, bizarre. When any legislative or policy change in the country is mooted and debated, it affects those in economic control who might choose in the short term to sell their stocks. To use the litmus test of the short-term movement in mining stocks in response to a policy shift as a gauge for the lawfulness of those legislative interventions is incorrect,” he said.

Zwane also dismissed the chamber’s complaints that it had not been consulted in the drafting of the charter, saying it had had 17 meetings with the chamber between March 2016 and March 2017.

The original of this report by Dineo Faku is on page 20 of Business Report of 10 August 2017

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Tuesday, 08 August 2017 15:48

In our Tuesday roundup, see summaries
of our selection of South African labour-
related stories that have appeared since
midday on Monday, 7 August 2017.

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