Still hope for mining

There is still hope for sustainable mining says the South African National Civic Organisation in the North West province.

Rustenburg - There was still hope for sustainable mining that involved beneficiation, sustainable community development, local procurement and social investment initiatives, the South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) in the North West province said on Thursday.

“Out-of-the-box thinking is necessary to come up with strategies for sustainable mining and development of alternative growth sectors to address youth unemployment and absorb those facing the reality of retrenchment,” provincial chairperson Paul Sebegoe said.

He was reacting to Anglo American's announcement that it was cutting 85 000 jobs worldwide.

Anglo American CEO Mark Cutifani announced the company's accelerated and more radical restructuring programme to redefine the focus of its asset portfolio on Tuesday.

Sebegoe called for a provincial economic and jobs summit to explore interventions to mitigate the impact of the retrenchments announced by Anglo American.

He said job losses had the potential to destabilise communities and deepen poverty, unemployment and inequality. “As part of its exit strategy, Anglo American ought to contribute towards enterprise as well as skills development and implementation of social labour plans that are supposed to benefit mining communities and labour sending areas.”

He said the massive retrenchments should not be allowed to set a precedent for capital flight and abdication of responsibilities by mining houses.

“Stability in the platinum belt will be maintained with greater involvement of communities in determining priority projects to roll-back the triple challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality,” he said.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said it was deeply alarmed by Anglo American's plan to retrench tens of thousands of workers worldwide.

“This is a calamitous pronouncement that will result in thousands of workers and their families losing their livelihoods and the rate of unemployment rocketing sky high.

“South Africa will be hit the hardest by this decision because Anglo South Africa employs about 45 000 workers. It will also worsen a bad situation following an earlier announcement by the mining company Lonmin that they will cut 6 000 jobs due to the falling commodity prices and high costs of production,” Cosatu spokesperson Sizwe Pamla said in a statement.

“All of this bears out our assertion, as the federation, that this country is in the grip of an economic crisis and that drastic steps are needed to stem this tide of job losses and mine closures. We expect that the recommendations and proposals of the Mining Industry, Growth, Development and Employment Task Team that met as recently as August this year to deal with retrenchments in the sector will be implemented.”

He said it was not enough to commit to adhering to due legal processes when dealing with retrenchments, when people's livelihoods and the future of generations wee at stake. “These mining companies made fortunes and built mining empires on the back of workers and they cannot therefore be allowed to cut and run.

“These mining companies made profits in the last two decades and they spirited their profits out of the country to foreign banks and tax havens. We expect them to dip in those massive currency reserves to cope and deal with the present depressed situation in the mining sector. We cannot afford to have these mining companies continue to use this country as a badly managed casino, where they smash, grab and leave.”

Former National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) general secretary, Frans Baleni warned recently the future looked scary in the mining industry. “The mining industry is in ICU [Intensive Care Unit]. Commodities are low. It will takes three to five years to recover. The future looks scary,” Baleni said on the sideline of the Congress of the South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) elective congress in Midrand last month.

He advised Cosatu to extend an invitation to the National Council of Trade Unions (Nactu), the Federation of Unions of South Africa (Fedusa) to join hands. “I advise Cosatu to also invite those who have left to come back. We need to confront the employer in a united form.”

AFRICAN NEWS AGENCY