South Africa’s mining industry looked set for further disruption on Wednesday as more than 20 000 members of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) planned to down tools at Harmony’s Virginia, Free State, mine.
This follows the impending closure of Durban Roodepoort Deep’s (DRD) North West operations, which will cost 6 000 jobs and deal a crippling blow to the town of Stilfontein, traditionally dependent on gold-mining revenues.
The Harmony strike — set to start with the night shift staff on Wednesday — comes barely a week after Harmony announced its intention to lay off about 4 900 workers at some of its Free State shafts. The company blamed the continuing strength of the rand for the job cuts.
However, the union insisted the strike was not about retrenchments. “We will deal with the issue of retrenchments once individual workers have been served with retrenchment notices,” said NUM’s regional secretary Tanji Malefane.
Malefane said the decision to strike followed unsuccessful mediation on several issues, including alleged racism, better housing for hostel dwellers, improved health care and training options and the allegedly unilateral closure of a shaft. The workers also wanted Harmony to start putting the mining charter into effect.
Harmony’s spokesperson Ferdi Dippenaar this week confirmed the strike would affect all the company’s Free State operations. Dippenaar said he believed the union was using the dispute as a reprisal for the section 189 notice — indicating the intention to retrench — served on the union last week. “The NUM is elevating shaft issues as the reason for the strike.”
Dippenaar said 11 issues were currently in dispute, four of which were being discussed at a central forum in the region. The others were being addressed at a branch level.
“Due to the significant progress made on resolving those outstanding issues, the strike will be totally unnecessary,” Dippenaar said.
The largely white union Solidarity this week pledged its support for NUM members by declaring a secondary strike against Harmony.
Solidarity spokesperson Dirk Hermann said the union had also given Harmony notice of the strike. About 1 000 members of Solidarity would down tools from March 28.
Hermann said his union was particularly concerned about planned retrenchments. “It is incomprehensible that Harmony should lay off thousands of workers shortly before the findings of the competition commission on the planned hostile takeover of Gold Fields are announced. It seems Harmony’s takeover attempts have run out of steam and that the company is taking it out on the workers.”
Reacting to the closure of DRD’s Buffelspoort and Harties mines, the NUM’s general secretary, Gwede Mantashe, claimed the company has long been uninterested in its South African operation. “It is more interested in its Australian operation and will only run down the South African operation. It is time someone else takes over these mines and runs them efficiently.”
The Star reported that DRD has been shipping out large quantities of costly mining equipment from its South African mines in containers in recent months.
The High Court this week granted the mining company a provisional liquidation of its North West operations, which are still reeling from the recent earthquakes.
Roger Kebble, chairperson of Simmer and Jack, has indicated a willingness to take over all DRD’s South African assets in a move that would save jobs.
However, DRD chairperson Mark Wellsley-Wood told the media this week the offer was a non-starter, as DRD had no intention of selling its profitable mines. These are Crown, ERPM and Blyvoor.
Claims flood in
An avalanche of legal claims is about to hit controversial new mining legislation due to come into force on May 1, writes Nic Dawes.
The Department of Minerals and Energy has received notice, from more than 3 000 mining companies and land owners, that they intend suing the government over the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, which effectively places all mineral rights in state hands.
Replying to a parliamentary question by the Democratic Alliance’s Hendrik Schmidt, Minister of Minerals and Energy Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said the notices had been served in terms of the Institution of Legal Proceedings Against Certain Organs of State Act, which requires companies to inform the government if they intend challenging legislation in court.
The law requires all miners to apply for the conversion of their licences to “new order” permits. To qualify, they must demonstrate that they are making progress toward the mining empowerment charter’s targets.
Among the companies involved are Placer Dome of Canada, Aquarius of Australia and Lonmin of the United Kingdom.
Anglo America has said it does not plan to contest the legislation, while Harmony Gold has already qualified to convert its rights.
The department and foreign affairs officials are meeting Italian diplomats after Italy sent an aide-memoire — effectively a diplomatic protest.