Hundreds of workers at Aurora’s Grootvlei mine have started receiving their salaries after nine months of no pay, the Star reported on Thursday.
The Gauteng labour department began paying the workers after the company transferred just over R2-million into its account last week.
“Today [Wednesday] we were able to pay out 240 miners. The total number to be paid is 1 400. You should have seen the smiles. These people haven’t been paid since March,” the newspaper quoted labour department spokesperson Sekhothali Lerotholi as saying.
The mine owes about 5 500 workers an estimated R15-million in salaries.
Earlier this year Aurora announced it had secured enough funding to buy Pamodzi’s Grootvlei and Orkney mines from its liquidators, after the owner went bankrupt. But red tape and empty promises had left the miners unpaid.
According to a recent Labour Court ruling Aurora agreed to pay the workers by November 30. – Sapa