National Union of Mineworkers briefing on crisis in Grootvlei and Orkney Mines
Mineral Resources and Energy
30 May 2012
Chairperson: Mr F Gona ANC
Meeting Summary
The Portfolio Committees of Mineral Resources and Labour met with delegates from the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR), Department of Labour (DL), and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), who expressed frustration when Aurora Empowerment Systems and their provisional liquidators failed to attend to detail what was being done to remedy the situation of workers employed at the troubled Grootvlei and Orkney mines. Members pointed out that the absence ofThe DMR briefed the Committee on the background to, and progress of, the case arising out of non-payment of wages and salaries at the Aurora Grootvlei Mine. Pamodzi Grootvlei Mine, the former operators, had gone into liquidation and had handed over to provisional liquidators. A number of the workers had been retrenched at this point, but those who were not continued to be employed by
From December 2009 there had been problems with the payment of the whole or a portion of bonuses, wages and salaries. A Memorandum of Understanding had been signed, in terms of which
During the taking of affidavits, appalling living conditions at the mine had become apparent, including lack of sanitation, lack of water, no cooking facilities, and health risks. In addition,
Members questioned why the Departments of Labour and Mineral Resources had dragged their feet, why it was concentrating now on UIF issues, and why it was apparently having so much difficulty in tracing people. Members also questioned the number of employees involved, how many were affected by retrenchment, what the position of the liquidators was, and whether there had been compliance with the Labour Relations Act in respect of the liquidation of the former employer, so that the correct employer had been cited. Members noted that this was probably not an isolated incident, and that other mines were probably also non- compliant.
Owing to the absence of
Meeting report
The Chairperson opened the meeting by stating that the provisional liquidators had received notice about the meeting only last Friday, giving them less than three days to prepare. As a result, they were not in attendance. He remarked that this would have a deleterious effect on the proceedings and demanded to know why notification had occurred so late, as their absence severely hampered the work of the Committee.
Mr E Lucas (IFP) was exasperated by the absence, stating emphatically that no justice was possible in this process without the presence of all the players.
Mr J Lorimer (DA) wanted to know of the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR), that if they had known at the beginning of this process what they now knew, whether they would have done anything differently. He asked if this situation could happen again and wanted to know what lessons had been learned. He demanded to know why people were starving to death.
The Chairperson asked what the status of the two mines was, and if this had changed. He asked if new owners were about to be acquired, or if they had in fact already been acquired. He said that at the previous session, a report had detailed all the assets that had been looted from the mines. The security of the assets was supposed to be in the hands of the provisional liquidators, and he demanded to know what the DMR was doing on this issue.
Mr Joel Raphela, Deputy Director-General, Mineral Regulation, DMR, responded that the DMR could not do justice to this subject matter, and said that there were also likely to be gaps in areas of responsibility. He observed that it might seem like the DMR was not providing detailed answers, but without all parties present, the DMR could not provide a comprehensive response. He said the DMR did not want to point fingers and requested that the meeting be postponed until everyone was present.
Mr Andre Cronje, Chief Director, DMR, spoke about the Grootvlei mine in
The Chairperson said he understood that the DMR might not be able to answer all the Committee’s questions adequately because not all parties were present. He then asked what the degree of care for the mines was, and what information the DMR had in this regard. Was there monitoring of water levels in the mine shafts, and was there a possibility of contaminated water entering into surrounding rivers and causing severe environmental pollution? He remarked that nine pumps were supposed to be operational, but that only one was actually working.
Mr M Nchabeleng, ANC, and Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Labour, wished to know what the role of the Department of Water was in this situation, having heard that they were responsible for pumping and moving water.
Mr Cronje responded that water discharged to the surface was being treated and there were plans to increase the size and capacity of a water treatment plant dealing with the problem. One needed to understand how this related to the liquidation process, as water levels were rising in the three basins in the central
The role of the DMR was stated as being involved from both a mine health and safety perspective, and whatever support was required would be provided.
Mr J Lorimer (DA) said that monitoring and coordination of action on these matters was rather piecemeal, emphasising a need for a more comprehensive response. He asked that the task force head be called in for questioning, as this was a matter of considerable public interest and there was absolutely no room for excuses
Ms N Ngele (ANC) believed her questions, like all of the Members’, were straight forward. However there were no straight-forward answers.
Mr E Lucas (IFP) lamented the fact that the Committee would be unable to deal with this matter successfully. He was saddened that the Committee was dilly-dallying, as people were suffering.
The Chairperson said the Committee could not deal with this issue properly without all parties present. As far as the workers were concerned, Aurora, who had been present at the Committee’s last meeting, had had to go to extraordinary means to seek certain sums of money for payment to compensate workers. He said the role of the liquidators, in terms of new owners coming in, was unknown.
Mr Raphela said that in respect of the non-payment of wages to workers at the Grootvlei mine, it had been reported that a claim by 1 287 miners had resulted in a total of R2,03m being paid in a court settlement. The workers were still employees since they have not been retrenched or laid off, and in this case could not access UIF benefits. However, the mine had since been declared closed so miners could be accommodated under the same conditions. He said a total of 468 claims equal to R1,73m had been received, and the Department of Labour wanted to take this matter to the
He said claims for unpaid wages had been made to the court within 12 months of a worker becoming aware of non-payment, and he was confident the workers had a strong case because of the documentation available. Not all people who still occupied hostels were workers and some people were squatting there as well. There were more than 1 000 workers who had earned in excess of the threshold amount under the Employment Act, and therefore could not sue in court.
Some discussion followed on the work which the NUM had done to consolidate claims, and the work that Solidarity had done to take these matters to court. All claims were being dealt with through the liquidation process. In an October 2011 agreement reached with all parties, 936 valid unemployment claims had been received from workers at the mine and in November, benefits were issued for the first time.
A total of 1 933 foreign workers were listed on the payroll of
A spokesman for the Department Labour said that
Mr Lorimer’s first question concerned how many workers were included under the R3,95m payment, and was told that the number was 1 170. He asked how many workers were still on the mine premises, and as this was unknown, he wished to know how long it had been before these workers had first received relief.
Mr S Motau (DA) said his interest related to the UIF, and asked if workers would be included in lay-off training. He also asked if there were any plans to get workers back to work at the mines if the mines came back into operation.
Ms F Bikani (ANC) wanted to have a clearer breakdown of numbers and said there should be a clear record of people involved. How many had been paid and how much money was left to pay? There should then be a tapering down of these numbers as workers were paid out.
Mr Nchabeleng asked where the foreign miners had come from. He realised workers came from
Mr M Sonto (ANC) asked how involved the Department of Health was in this process. The health conditions of these miners needed to be checked so that sickness did not emerge down the line when workers were no longer employed by certain mines.
Ms Ngele asked when new claims were launched, how the money was distributed and more importantly, how people would access payment in rural areas.
Mr Kenny Fick, Provincial Executive Manager for
He said that if workers had lodged a valid claim within six months, the payment could have been made at any time in the future. The exact payroll indicated that there were approximately 3 500 workers at
The Chairperson asked Mr Fick that all reports be submitted in writing as from the next meeting, for ease of engagement and cross referencing for the Members.
Briefing by National
Mr Madoda Sambatha, of NUM, said that a mine worker who failed to pay an account for three months would be taken to a credit bureau and blacklisted, yet a company that failed to pay a worker’s wages had to be taken to court by government. He called for it to be ruled a criminal offence when businesses failed to pay worker’s salaries on time.
There had been problems with availability and circulation of information from provisional liquidators and possible buyers. The Committee was informed that the Orkney Mine would be purchased by China African Precious Mining (CAPM) on June 1. The smooth transition of this sale, along with the proposed recall of former employees once the mine restarted production, was in stark contrast to the
Referring to the death of a schoolboy who fell into an open mine shaft, Mr Sambatha called on the DMR to improve security outlays at former, non-functioning mines.
He said that the Insolvency Act should be amended so that workers were prioritized for compensation after the bankruptcy of a company. Companies facing liquidation should also be compelled to provide education for workers’ children and emergency social grants should also be made available.
Discussion
Mr Lucas wanted to know where the people were who had not yet been paid, where they were living, and how were they surviving.
Mr Sonto was in agreement with the union in terms of blacklisting people, stating that you might be blacklisted without even knowing it. He demanded to know why the application for blacklisting was not uniform for individuals and companies. He said the criminality of this process must be brought to an end.
The Chairperson asked if Mr Sambatha would be in a position to present to the Committee any sections of the Insolvency Act he would like to see changed so that the Committee could engage with their counterparts at the Department of Trade and Industry. He asked if there had been any engagement with local government bodies where these mines were located, to see if water and electricity needs had been supplied or restored to hostels where workers were staying, and that these services were being paid for to prevent them being suspended.
Mr Sambatha said that prior to the emergence of the current issues,
Mr Lorimer concluded by saying there was a need to clarify what was expected in terms of presentations from delegates prior to the next meeting.
Chairman F Gona (ANC) requested that all submissions be made in writing prior to the next round of talks, with an indication of whether there was a possibility of closure or not if Aurora accepted responsibility and then processed monies owed.
The next meeting date was set as Friday 15 June.
The meeting was adjourned.
Audio
Present
- We don't have attendance info for this committee meeting
Download as PDF
You can download this page as a PDF using your browser's print functionality. Click on the "Print" button below and select the "PDF" option under destinations/printers.
See detailed instructions for your browser here.