Africa’s biggest platinum industry faces one of the most bruising years in its history. Unions and management have drawn battle lines for pay talks and a cloud of question marks hangs over the mining laws – dual uncertainty that could deter foreign investors from putting money in a country that produces 70% of the world’s platinum.
In July, pay talks for a new one-year deal began. Unions for 130,000 workers in South African platinum mines, sat down with the big three: AngloPlats, Implats and Lonmin. They are likely to prove tricky and drag on for weeks. The majority union, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu), wants a 15% pay rise; the second largest, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), wants 20% across the board. Both unions are eyeing the recovering platinum price nosing above $1,000 an ounce for the first time in years. In August 2011, it was over $1,900.
<div id="attachment_5133" style="width: 210px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-5133" class="size-medium wp-image-5133" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Peter-Leon-017-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" />Peter Leon</div>
Demand for platinum, thanks to jewellery and automotive manufacturers, rose 10% in the first quarter of this year, according to the World Platinum Investment Council, while supply dropped 11%. It promises profit for South African mines if they can keep costs down; wages make up almost half of costs.
Amcu has 61% of the membership at AngloPlats, 62% at Implats and 82% at Lonmin. It holds the aces and will play a mean game for a minimum wage of R12,500 (around $860) a month. This wage has been the rallying call from Amcu ever since the bitter Marikana strike of August 2012. At the announcement of its demands in July, FORBES AFRICA questioned R12,500, saying it should be more like R20,000, taking into account four years of inflation.
“If we say R20,000 for the lowest paid, the employers are going to run away so we will go for R12,500 and work up from there,” says, the president of Amcu and part-time preacher, who appeared bullish and ready for action.
“We are applying for a pay rise here, not a strike. If the employers apply for a strike we will give it to them.”
The platinum employers are likely to be a tough nut to crack; inflation, at around 6%, is on their side. They are also struggling against years of falling commodity prices and productivity. On the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, AngloPlats shares lost two thirds of their value last year and Lonmin, kept afloat by a shareholders’ bailout in 2015, lost 99%.
Aside from the industrial problems, South Africa faces many more months of uncertainty over the country’s mining laws. Amendments to the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act – which governs mining – have spent four years going back and forth through Parliament; questions have been raised over the constitutionality of the amendments. Investors take a dim view of plans to make resources – like iron and coal for the steel industry – designated minerals under the law. That would mean miners accepting government prices and maybe having to ask permission to export. This could lead to a trade law complaint at the World Trade Organization (WTO). China suffered a WTO ruling against it recently in a similar case concerning rare earth.
Then there are concerns about the discretion the law hands to the minister, giving him the power to cancel mining licences and prosecute.
“It is open to discretion, with unclear rules, which makes it very difficult to invest with that level of uncertainty and that is the long and short of it,” says Peter Leon, a mining lawyer with Herbert Smith Freehills, at a briefing in Johannesburg in June.
“We are going to a third rewrite without solving the problems of the first two.”
The bill is on its way back through the legislature and a number of bodies, including the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa. Leon and his colleagues say the chiefs came up with one of the best ideas yet – an independent body to allocate the state-owned mineral rights.
With Parliament adjourned for the August 3 municipal elections, mining experts fear it could be well into next year before South Africa’s mining code is fixed. Investors seek stability and regulatory certainty; with every passing month there is a risk more of them will turn away.

Platinum Blues

That Australian,” Sibongile Kenneth Sonjica muses, “is killing us with money. He is turning us into dogs. Two dogs can play together nicely, but throw a bone between them and they will fight.”
The 58-year-old Sonjica is a 15-year veteran of Gauteng’s gold mining industry and returned to his Mpondoland birthplace, in the Eastern Cape, after his 1997 retrenchment. His only fond memories of those times are of him in the ring – he was a useful boxer in mine hostel tournaments.
“That Australian” is Mark Caruso, a Perth-based venture capitalist and Executive Chairman of Mineral Commodities (MRC), who is going toe-to-toe with a community opposing a proposed 22-kilometer long and 1.5-kilometer wide strip mine of coastal dune titanium deposits within its midst.
“The mine will destroy the land forever; I know this from working on mines. It will not be possible for the cows to graze, there will be soil erosion and you cannot live close to a mine. I know mines,” says Sonjica.
There is no middle ground between the pro and anti-mining lobbies, this fight is all about the last man standing; there will be no split decision. Titanium is tough, lightweight and has the highest strength-to-weight ratio of any metal. It provides for the demands of the 21st century’s new technologies from the medical and sporting fields through to the aeronautic industries.
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Facing off is the Amadiba community who live on communal land with collective agency. It is a land tenure system that has survived such interlopers as Shaka Zulu, British colonialism (Mpondoland was the last territory to be annexed by the British in 1894) and patronizing apartheid-era rural improvement projects that became a catalyst for the Pondo Revolt in the late 1950s.
South African Pulp and Paper Industries (Sappi) misjudged the land arrangement in 1999 when it began to implement a tree planting project by paying some residents a cultivation rental fee. In what became known as the Gum Tree Rebellion, 14 homesteads of those participating in the initiative were razed in two weeks of violence. The community saw neither development value nor any synergy with the multinational’s land use.
Nonhle Mbuthuma, the 38-year-old spokesperson for the Amadiba Crisis Committee (ACC) that opposes the mine, went into hiding following the March 22 killing of the organization’s chairperson Sikhosiphi “Bazooka” Rhadebe.
“My grandfather was a leader during the Pondo Revolt. What I learned from him is that it is very important that if you want to live a better life, you have to protect the land,” says Mbuthuma.
The ACC wants economic development through an eco-tourism model on the economic ethos of a rising tide lifts all boats, allowing for both small-scale farming and the amaMpondo culture to flourish. The Pondoland Centre of Endemism, which will be impacted by any mine operations, is recognized as one of the world’s 235 richest eco-regions.
“People think we are poor. We do not feel we are poor. We feel richer than other people. Here we have land. You can go to other places and people have nothing. We have crops and cattle and bigger plans for tourism. In cities, people are poor. Caruso says we are poor, but he is from the city,” says Siyabonga Ndovela, a 23-year-old supporter of the ACC.
The ACC says the promise of 600 mining jobs will come at the expense of creating a strip of desert stretching between the Mzamba and Mtentu rivers, pollute the marine environment, as well as arable and grazing land far beyond its area of operation, exhaust and choke fresh water sources, displace communities and serve as nothing more than a burial mound for a community.
Zeka Mnyamana is the spokesperson for MRC’s Black Economic Empowerment partner, the Xolobeni Community Empowerment Company (XOLCO). Mbuthuma labels Mnyamana as “a traitor”, as she says he once opposed mining, saying there is no reason why mining and eco-tourism cannot co-exist. “Tourists go to Johannesburg and there are mines there.”
The decades-long struggle against the proposed mine is not without its consequences. The corrosive effect is in the acts of betrayal and alleged murder calcifying positions and redefining relationships into pro or anti-mining camps. It is no glib assessment to say this could emerge into an internecine conflict in its most sincere form – destructive, deadly, among family and inherited by coming generations as blood feuds.
Sinegugu Zukulu, the Eastern Cape Environmental Program Manager for the NGO Conservation South Africa, and originally from Amadiba’s Baleni area, about 15 kilometers inland from the proposed mining site, acts as an ACC advisor.
“The Amadiba are a clan, we are all related,” he says.
His opponent is Zamile Qunya, who head ups XOLCO.
“We are brothers, his great-grandfather was also mine. We were friends from Standard Six and beyond school,” Zukulu says of a friendship since soured.
“We have never had a direct fallout. When we meet, we meet as brothers. But we are no longer friends. It is the things he says in my absence, not in my presence, like ‘Sinegugu is a troublemaker’ and lately he has been spreading lies that I started XOLCO with him.”
“The social fabric of the community is being destroyed. When say an uncle dies and is pro-mining you are still obliged to attend the funeral. But people end up not eating the food for fear of being poisoned,” he says.
There are accounts of women being assaulted by herdboys for accepting food parcels from pro-mining interests, unexplained fires razing tourist infrastructure, reports of cash handouts by mining interests in exchange for support and anti-mining activists subjected to police raids and harassment.
Russel Hartshorne, 32, concedes the opportunity for a community lease agreement for the Mtentu River Lodge Guest House in 2011 came about when Qunya was wearing two hats, as XOLCO representative and also chair of the eco-tourism community body, the Amadiba Coastal Communities Development Association Trust. The trust was on the cusp of signing a deal with a major player in the eco-tourism field, but it was rejected at the eleventh hour by Qunya.
Hartshorne and his business partner stepped into the gap with little capital and have a written agreement with the community, including profit share and local employment, but admits it has little validity.
“If the community says go, than we go,” he says.
The pro-mining lobby claims 80% of the 2,000 to 3,000 people directly impacted by the proposed mine support it. Anti-mining activists claim the same percentage is against it. A 2007 report by the South African Human Rights Commission said “despite a chronic lack of infrastructure, the majority of the affected community are not in favor of mining.” Mbizana municipality is ranked as South Africa’s worst performing local government by the research and advocacy group Good Governance Africa.
Sebenzani Mchebi, at the age of 73, lives on a homestead among arable fields and livestock within the proximity of the proposed mining operation with 32 other adults and “I don’t know how many children”.
“If they bring the machines here where will we live? Where will the animals get their grass? Our water will be poisoned. Where do we get land like this? It will be the end of our lives. The government does not care, they are on the side of mining,” she says.
“We are prepared to die for this land, everyone is. Bazooka is not the first person to die (three other anti-mining activists are believed to have been poisoned),” says Ndovela, who is facing a charge of the possession of an unlicensed firearm after police confiscated the weapon while he was on his way to a community blockade to prevent officials gaining access to the dune site.
“We have no say about our land. Our ancestors fought for this land. Why are we going to sell our land to Australia?” says Ndovela.
Caruso did not respond to detailed questions from FORBES AFRICA.

‘Our Ancestors Fought  For This Land.  Why Are We Selling  It To Australia?’

They dig profitably the desert soil of Botswana searching for stones – that say more than words &#8211; for fingers from Belgium and China to New York. They are so tiny that according to diamond experts, all the diamonds mined in the world, since 1870, would not fill a London double-decker bus.
This is the 44-year story of Botswana’s diamonds. An industry that has overcome hurdles that have tripped many in a string of African countries: ownership laws; competition; land battles and the threat of blood diamonds.
This is also the story of the world’s richest and largest diamond mine, Jwaneng, a huge hole in the desert, ringed by roads, 200 kilometers north of the capital Gaborone.
Diamondfacts.org says diamonds earn approximately $8.4 billion a year for Africa and most come from Botswana. In Botswana, diamonds contribute 33% of GDP and are mined by a joint venture, between the government and De Beers, called Debswana. The venture also means life.
“For our people, every diamond purchase represents food on the table; better living conditions; better healthcare; safe drinking water; more roads to connect our remote communities and much more,” the former President, Festus Mogae, once said.
As a market leader, Debswana can defend itself by holding on to diamonds to keep prices up. This is one reason why production fell in 2015.
According to the General Manager of Jwaneng, Albert Milton, the mine produced about 11.3 million carats in 2014.
“This number went down by 14 percent in 2015 to nine million carats due to market related conditions. We invested about $2.2 billion in 2010 and we are positive about the outlook.”
The mine aims to more than double diamond production to 20 million carats this year.
The big threat that could dull Botswana’s sparkle comes from competition elsewhere.
The bosses at Jwaneng fear that miners from Zimbabwe, Angola, Namibia, Liberia, Canada and Russia will find more and more. This could loosen Botswana’s grip on supply and with it power over price.
A geological survey found that Russia could supply the world market for the next 3,000 years as there are trillions of carats lying beneath a 35-million-year-old asteroid crater in Siberia, in the east of the country – it has more than 10 times the global stockpile.
Hanns Spangenberg, a Senior Economist at NKC African Economics, says Botswana’s single largest rating constraint is the country’s dependence on the diamonds, which exposes the economy to external shocks.
“Depressed external demand for diamonds has had extreme consequences for the landlocked country, with real GDP contracting by 0.3 percent in 2015, while the government has been forced to record a fiscal deficit in 2015/16 after recording surpluses the previous three fiscal years,” he says.
Spangenberg adds that authorities are well aware of Botswana’s exposure to the diamond sector, and have tried to diversify the economy – the most significant being the Economic Diversification Drive (EDD). They are pouring state coffers into the dairy, textiles and clothing sectors with the hope of creating jobs.
Ahmed Bin Sulayem, the Chair of the Kimberley Process – an organization fighting to stem the flow of conflict diamonds – warned in a statement in February, that the outlook was not convincing for the diamond sales industry.
“[It] will be a challenging year for our industry with continuing oversupply, low commodity prices and tightening liquidity. The social impact of these combining factors is likely to be severe and felt across large parts of the world’s diamond producing regions.”
It seems the story of diamonds, that started with discoveries in 1870, in Kimberly, is far from over.

Diamonds  May Not Be  Forever

The issue of gender inclusion once again featured in this year’s Mining Indaba in Cape Town in February. And there were no surprises – mining is still very much a man’s world, particularly at the senior executive management level.
“Women in high mining positions tend to refer to the sector as an old boys’ club. Whilst the numbers of men and women who enter the sector at graduate level are more or less the same, there are few females in senior leadership roles,” says Claire McMaster of Women in Mining South Africa (WiMSA), referring to her own country.
Whilst South African companies manage to attract women at the entry level, they seem to fail to keep them and see them through to the higher echelons of management structures.
“According to our research, 50% of women who are working in the South African mining sector are between 26 and 35 years old. However, by the time they are 55, this percentage is down to 3%.”
South Africa however is not the world’s worst performer in terms of gender representation in the extractive industry, on the contrary. Mining For Talent, a 2015 report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), shows 19.8% of all executive management positions of the top 100 mining companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) are held by women. This is considerably higher than economies such as Australia (7.5%), the United States (12.1%), and United Kingdom (4.6%).
In addition, South Africa’s ratio of female board members of the JSE’s top 100 mining companies stands at 16.8%. Africa’s second largest economy hereby outperforms Australia (14%), the UK (15.3%), and the US (11%).
The situation is however not ideal, says McMaster. The main reasons South African women decide to leave the mining sector include a rigid glass ceiling that prevents them from moving up and paternalistic views on how women should behave in the work environment.
“For a young woman who is working in the sector, assertiveness is often viewed as aggressiveness by male superiors,” she says, adding that this deters women from staying.
Thuthula Balfour-Kaipa, who heads the South African Chamber of Mines’ health division, agrees. The patriarchal nature of South Africa’s extractive sector also discourages women from asking for raises, better opportunities and promotions.
“Psychologically, we are not used to ask for a better deal because it is seen as demanding. Men, however, do tend to ask for better opportunities. Millennials are changing this around. They are confident enough to ask for what they want.”
What doesn’t help is the fact that men are still often seen as more important employees than women, says Balfour-Kaipa.
“At the work place, men are seen as the main breadwinners, whilst women tend to be seen as supplementary,” she says. “When it comes to retrenchments, male workers tend to be viewed as people who have a family to provide for, whilst when it comes to women, people assume they have a man looking after them.”
A lack of successful role models, mentors, and guidance is another reason women leave mining prematurely, says McMaster. According to a 2014 WiMSA study, 62% of respondents complained about poor access to relevant role models and mentors, whilst 54% agreed on a lack of career and development guidance relevant to them.
“That is why we at WiMSA are running a project which has identified 13 senior mining women as patrons,” McMasters says. “Women in our very male-dominated industry need role models like Deshnee Naidoo, CEO of Vedanta Zinc International. They need to know they can achieve that too.”
So why should mining companies work to retain its women employees, and groom them to become senior executives? According to McMaster, the answer is simple.
“Various research reports have shown having a critical mass of women on your board and in your senior leadership team positively impacts on your financial metrics, decision-making, transparency, and corporate governance,” she says.
Nonkululeko Nyembezi-Heita, Chair of the JSE and former CEO of steel and mining firm ArcelorMittal South Africa, concurs. Making space for women makes business sense.
“It does not make sense to draw skills and expertise from just one half the population, particularly if you want to create a competitive advantage now that mining is struggling due to commodity volatility,” she says.
“If you focus on just men, how do you know you will get the right skills for your company? In my view, you are creating more risks if you are not embracing this particular topic, and not including women.”

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A Glass Ceiling Even A Pickaxe Can’t Break

As revenue dwindles from Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves, calls for the government to find alternative export revenue sources have never been as loud. A return to agriculture, once the biggest industry before the oil boom of the seventies, has been touted as the most viable solution. Mining has come to the fore as another potential revenue earner, though the drop in global commodity prices will have a bearing on investor appetite.
These alternatives can generate significant revenue for the nation but, as seen with oil, a robust and watertight system will be required to ensure that all revenue from mining is redeployed into states where there is mining activity.
There are many factors that have prevented mining in Nigeria being considered a real growth earner. Whereas Nigeria’s oil is internationally recognized, the grade and quality of the country’s minerals are not recognized as meeting international standards. This has led to questionable practices being carried out by miners and traders to ensure that they make a profit on their substandard material. Furthermore, testing centers and labs are few and far between, diluting the viability of finding a buyer.
The recently installed Minister of Solid Minerals and Mining, Kayode Fayemi, has already begun to develop strategies to ensure the development of the sector is maintained from federal to artisanal level. The fragmented nature of the mining sector in Nigeria allows for local cartels to take advantage of what is seen by many as a hostile business. Due to the lack of legislation, locals prefer to sell ores for quick gains to foreign buyers, rather than dealing with the bans and restrictions that come with the legal channels. Foreign buyers are able to get more for their money by capitalizing on the porous laws. The government in Congo is aware that the trace minerals, associated with the ores, amount to something valuable and have made it illegal to export them.
Confidence precedes investment and, with the global mining sector experiencing a downturn, the lack of protection given to mining in Nigeria risks deterring potential investors. Abundant natural resources should be a gift, not a curse. The lack of policy presents an opportunity for the ministry to develop the legislation that governs the sector. This will give confidence to mining companies who want to invest in a robust system. As with the Local Content Act in the oil and gas sector, there are policies that can protect the mining sector to keep the wealth in Nigeria. A ban on importing raw materials that could be mined in Nigeria is a start.
Today, a lot of Nigeria’s mining is at artisanal level. A workforce is usually made up of locals from surrounding villages. Armed with a spade, they get to work using crude techniques to extract the ore. This exposes toxins, leading to poor health and damage to the environment.
When visiting a mine, it is not uncommon to see the landscape punctuated by parcels of land ransacked for their minerals. In countries where mining is prominent, there is a synergistic approach with environmental and mining ministries working together to ensure that the environment and surrounding communities are not negatively affected by the excavation.
Unofficial tax collectors are also known to plague the routes on which the mined material is transported. While  companies have come to expect this in Africa, business will increase if this practice is eradicated in Nigeria. The mining ministry must engage with states and local governments to ensure that royalties and taxes reach federal accounts. With idiosyncratic systems catering to minorities, the fact that no major international mining companies are established in Nigeria is indicative of the lack of confidence they have in the country’s mining sector.
The general perception among Nigerians is that Minister Fayemi has the skills and intellect to successfully navigate his challenging post. During his term as Governor of Ekiti State, he attracted international finance. He is now expected to be just as bullish in Nigeria’s potentially lucrative mining sector.

Natural Resources A Gift Not A Curse

In the last two years, a steady decline in the price of gold has brought the operations of many mining companies in Ghana to an abrupt halt. As a result, job losses and a reduction in royalties and tax revenues have been felt. Ghana is Africa’s biggest gold producer after South Africa, and with the mining sector contributing to 5% of Ghana’s economic output, the downturn in the sector has served a serious blow to the nation’s coffers.
Chinese investors, often depicted as parasitic investors, are keen to tap into this opportunity. The Chinese owner of the Akroma Gold project recently completed the purchase of Viking Mines in Ghana for $10 million. There are other new discoveries taking place and, while the sector might not be buoyant now, requisite preliminary studies should be done to mechanize deposits there.
Despite the tough economic climate, gold mining companies are able to meet their obligations, with Goldfields recently paying a $4.5-million dividend to the Ghanaian government and a total of $25.3 million since 2010. The fiscal framework that governs the mining sector in Ghana is a shining example to mineral-rich countries with a porous system due to a lack of transparency and regulation.
The Chinese have pumped billions into the Ghanaian economy. Mining in Ghana is integral to the development of communities; it brings jobs and economic vibrancy. But, for all the synergistic Sino-African trade partnerships being developed, an ability on the part of the Chinese to disregard the honesty and statutes that govern Ghana, especially in the mining sector, raises concerns over whether these agreements are lopsided.
Also, the Ghanaian government’s clampdown on illegal mining has only been marginally successful. Chinese companies use locals to front their mining activity, thus appearing to be credible operations. The lack of rehabilitation done by these companies also further exacerbates the problem. Many sites are left abandoned with no consideration for the environment.
Many large firms neglect their duties to rehabilitate the areas they have worked in, making them inhabitable. Companies, surveyed between 2009 and 2012, failed dismally to keep in line with the environmental protection agency requirements – a damning indictment of the attitude adopted by many foreign firms.
The inability of most locals to get finance to start their own enterprise ensures that development remains at an artisanal level.
Other areas in West Africa are showing promise though. Both Liberia and Sierra Leone are showing signs of reviving their mining sectors. Sierra Rutile is a company that was able to withstand the pressures brought by the Ebola epidemic. They recently raised $44 million to construct a dry mine at Gangama in Sierra Leone. The funds will be used to expand the existing mine. Rutile is used for the production of metal, specifically titanium. The investment will increase production and will provide more jobs.
Another mining company, Aureus Mining, has also signaled its intent to bring a new mine in Liberia into production. With the relative successes emerging in the region, there is confidence being shown by investors to reignite their interests in the mining sector and with it the hope that the sentiment spreads to other countries across West Africa.
The next step for the region is to engage stakeholders to develop concessions and form strategic partnerships. With industry being the buzzword for Africa to reach its full economic potential, the fact remains that infrastructural challenges are still an obstacle. Poor roads affect the transportation of materials. A lack or railways reduces the amount of goods that can be transported. The lack of power is another thorn in the side. The Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) must integrate by encouraging free trade between the regional countries. By identifying the above issues, governments can make a concerted effort to tackle them.

Work To Be Done But There Is Hope

The Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg was an apt choice for these talks for two reasons: firstly, Boksburg is a mining town built on the digging of gold; secondly, it is a venue for boxing and home to former world heavyweight champion Gerrie Coetzee. The Friday before gold mining pay talks began in earnest, on June 16, there was a boxing tournament at Birchwood. At least the Friday fight night was fought under Queensberry rules.
The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) led with its left. It may be merely the second largest union, representing 30% of the 93,000 gold miners compared to the majority National Union of Mineworkers’ 54%, but what it lacks in numbers it makes up for in chutzpah.
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“We are a serious union,” says Manzini Zungu, the spokesman for Amcu.
When the major gold producers in South Africa, the leading gold producer in Africa, made one of the best opening offers in history on July 6 – of between 7.8% and 12.96% – Amcu was the first to despise it. To rub salt in the wounds, in rejecting the offer, Amcu presented slides showing the salaries of the top mining bosses, of up to $1.7 million a year, juxtaposed with the salaries of underground miners.
“That was brilliant,” says an official from a rival union as he emerged impressed from the negotiating room.
“You can’t compare a CEO to a man who carries a shovel,” scoffed another.
Amcu put pressure on the gold employers to make a counter offer two days later. The employers stuck to their guns and Amcu deadlocked on July 8, taking a dispute to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), the independent arbitration body. It was enough bad news to drive the value of mining stocks down by 10% on the day on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
The next step is a strike and Amcu proved, in 2014, this is not too difficult. In that year, the union took the platinum mines out for an unprecedented five-month stoppage that cost more than $2 billion.
“The problem is the employers fear Amcu,” says a former member of the NUM negotiating team.
The rest of the unions, NUM, UASA and Solidarity, stayed at the negotiating table but are equally disgruntled.
How the gold employers are going to close the gap, with pay demands that go up to 80% from NUM to 100% from Amcu, is anyone’s guess.
The employers plead poverty. Figures released by the Chamber of Mines show the demands would load R16.5 billion ($1.32 billion) onto the wage bill of South African gold mines. The wage bill, in 2014, was R23.5 billion ($1.88 billion), making up 55% of gold mining costs.
“If all of the wage demands are granted, nearly all of the mines in South Africa would be under water. It could be the end of the gold mining industry,” warned Elize Strydom, the chief negotiator for the employers.
The employers also set great store by what it calls social compact – a package of pensions and welfare benefits to complement the pay. Like the opening offer, this too fell on stony ground.
“We don’t want packages, we want pay,” says David Sipunzi, the general secretary of NUM.
The employers also tried to link a pay deal to profit share if the gold price goes up. They promise there will be bonuses if profit margins, after costs have been deducted, stay above 6%. Clearly, there will be talk about retrenchments and pay cuts if profits turn to losses.
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“Will the bosses take a pay cut?” asks one of the more cynical officials at the talks.
The unions’ argument is simple. They want to use these talks to close the pay gap between the boardroom and the bottom of the damp shafts, miles underground where the gold is.
You could argue that a secretary answering a telephone in an air-conditioned office in Johannesburg earns twice as much as a miner who spits and sweats in the clammy heat, more than four kilometers underground for as little as $600 a month.
Amcu and NUM also want to close what they call the “apartheid gap” in pay – a legacy from the old days when the cheap labor of black miners made vast profits for both the mines and the state.
“We don’t fear the threat of retrenchments made by the employers, they are retrenching at Doornkop (a Harmony Gold mine) as we speak,” says Sipunzi.
Analysts have warned rising costs and falling productivity in the gold mines could cost the industry 20,000 jobs before the end of the year. The number of workers in the gold mines has fallen from 180,000, 10 years ago, to a mere 120,000, an alarming decline in a nation that has mined nearly half of all of the gold in the world.
The only jab in the eye for Amcu so far is its dismal attempt to boost its numbers represented at the talks. It claimed an extra 6,500 members, but independent auditors say 6,000 of those could not be verified. A source among the employers says of the 1,000 members claimed at AngloGold Ashanti, a mere seven turned out to be true.
What is clear is that whichever of the two main unions, Amcu and NUM, is seen to get the best deal in these talks will attract a legion of new members to their corner. Seconds out.

Gloves Off In Gold

The current spate of opportunities in the Nigerian mining sector is predicated on a true spread of federal powers. Potential investors must be hoping that newly-elected President Muhammadu Buhari gives the mining sector the much-needed attention it deserves.
The sector has been neglected with swaths of red tape preventing it from developing. Crucially, if the mining sector is to succeed then the recently privatized power sector is integral to its success. Ask any Nigerian about the problems they face on a daily basis, you will find it hard to find one who won’t mention the infamous power outages.
When those concerns are transferred to industry it deters any serious mining activity taking place. Unless a mining company develops its own independent power plant it is highly unlikely that Nigeria will be considered as a mining hub despite its mineral wealth. Erratic power supply does not encourage mining companies that want to increase profits while decreasing production costs, especially when commodity prices, such as gold and iron, are trading at record lows.
Having spent the last year as Africa’s biggest economy and touted to have the 19th biggest economy in the world by 2030, Nigeria is expected to employ robust resource governance in accordance with international best practices. India has implemented a policy of backwards integration which has been met with success. Industrial behemoth, Jindal Steel &amp; Power, is a glowing example of how backwards integration can result in financial growth for a company.
It would be remiss of me to not commend the efforts of the previous government to transform the petroleum industry with the proposed Petroleum Industry Bill. Although delayed, it was a sign of the government’s willingness to change what has been a mismanaged government sector. The mining sector has until now failed to develop a legal and regulatory framework that will keep up with international best practices. Like an unwanted puppy, it struggles for care and attention. Instead it is neglected and imposed with an archaic tax regime.
The government must impose trade tariffs, as seen with the ban on the importation of poultry products to entice prospective participants. Additionally, fiscal federalism is necessary so that powers are devolved to the state. At present, the constitution states the federal government owns all resources.
Opportunities in the mining sector are vast due to the untapped deposits that are yet to be mined. Furthermore, the prospect of backwards integration allows for companies to effectively manage their resources.
In its ability to harness an effective framework, Ghana recently hosted a delegation from Zambia to advise the country on how to manage its resources. The government is also talking to the 13 multinational mining companies that operate in the country over the possibility of embarking on underground mining operations.
No man is an island. Despite its economic prowess, Nigeria must seek the help and advice of other countries with developed mining industries. Just like Ghana sought help from Nigeria about managing its oil production, Nigeria must extract knowledge from Ghana as to how to run its mining sector efficiently. Mistakes of the past should not be repeated. Nigeria also needs industrial stakeholders to promote, research and develop the mining sector.
Nigeria does not need to import raw materials for many of its industries. The ingredients can be found in the deposits scattered across the 36 states, all of which can be used as agents of change to satiate local and international appetite for finished products. This is added value but it something that is proving difficult to harness due to porous infrastructure.
If talk is cheap, then the labored rhetoric of diversification without the expense of action will prove costly in the long run.

The unwanted Puppy In Need Of Rescue

On February 9, Africa’s biggest mining gathering will kick off in Cape Town, South Africa. From Australians mining iron ore in West Africa to Chinese interested in our rare earth, more than 7,000 people will arrive at the Mining Indaba to talk about the future of the industry.
One of the topics likely to come up is why the riches of mining struggle to reach the poor. Government and mining companies make promises of empowering the poor through shares and wages; most are empty.
Before a word is said, the head of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) is sceptical. Frans Baleni, the union’s general secretary, says the Mining Indaba means little to the people who live next door to mines.
“You will notice that these discussions are about issues of maximizing productivity, there’s nothing much about improving the lives of communities. In these deliberations we don’t get a platform to say what we want to say,” says Baleni.
As delegates gather, a do-it-yourself solution will be underway in another part of the country. Thousands of the country’s poorest people will be buying into its richest industry.
Baroka Tribal Mining (Pty) is a community-owned company in the Sekhukhune District in Limpopo, in northern South Africa. It represents 90,000 poor people of the Baroka Ba Nkwana tribe. This community is buying a 49% stake of Bokoni platinum mine, worth $385million, from Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), the world’s largest platinum producer. It tabled the offer early in January.
Baroka’s transaction is backed by the Public Investment Corporation, a state-owned pension fund and a bank loan.
It is a deal that is a sign of the times. Following South Africa’s crippling six-month platinum strike in 2014, Amplats CEO Chris Griffith announced that the world’s largest producer was selling under-performing mines. It wants to concentrate on the more profitable open-pit and mechanized mine.
It has taken time and perseverance for Baroka since they set up in 2009. Out of their own pocket, Baroka representatives have traveled the world trying to secure investment. They went to Russia, Thailand and the United States but returned empty handed. The question of mining strikes in South Africa was often raised.
“Everything about Baroka shows that if you believe in something, you can actually get it if you are determined. We have never received royalties from any company, yet we are buying a R4 billion ($347 million) mine. We are lucky because we have government backing. That made it easier for us. Where the mine is sitting, there is 600 million tons of iron ore. There’s a large chrome deposit. We are currently sitting with 51 percent exploration rights,” says Tshepo Phiri, Chief Executive of Baroka Tribal Mining.
“Except for Royal Bafokeng, I can’t think of any successful story regarding mining communities. The government’s role tends to be limited; government tends to rely on these companies to implement the mining charter. But our advice is that the government needs to do constant evaluation of these companies and raise the red flag quite early,” says Baleni.
Both parties have a long way to go. Amplats will get credits towards black ownership which is required by the Mining Charter. The next Mining Charter update will be out on March 31 when researchers will tell how much &#8211; or how little &#8211; has been transferred to black owners. Each company is required to show at least 26% black ownership.
Ngoako Ramatlhodi, Minister of Mineral Resources, has a broad administrative discretion to unilaterally amend the charter as and when the need arises. Non-compliance with the provisions of the amended charter will render a mining company in breach of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA). Under section 47 of the MPRDA, the minister has the prerogative to suspend or cancel rights, permissions where the holder is in breach.
At least the Baroka Ba Nkwana tribe has not let the grass grow under its feet in the effort to convince poor people that a share of mining riches can be theirs too. Surely, this is a route to long-term stability in mining.

Anything Is Possible  If You Wish Hard Enough

Africa’s economic trajectory is often compared to that of China. The Asian country’s ascent to 21st century economic superpower is rooted in its steel production and coal mining industry that began more than a thousand years ago.
As Cecil John Rhodes attempted to consolidate the South African mining industry in the late 19th century, the economic reverberations of the mineral discoveries cemented the importance the mining sector has and continues to play in the economic development of South Africa.
The production of the many commercially viable solid mineral deposits scattered across West Africa is key to the economic development of the region. A successful marriage of policy reform and privatization is fundamental in ensuring the full economic potential of the region is realized.
To date, interest in West Africa has been negligible. According to many of the governmental mining agencies across the region, a lack of geological information available to prospective investors incapacitates their ability to determine the intrinsic value of the deposits. Wildcat miners indulge in a practice known as concession flipping where discoveries are sold at a profit to larger companies who have the technical and financial capacity to develop the mines.
Globally, the mining sector is integral to the development, diversification and sustainment of many economies and is the rock on which a number of industries – from construction to petrochemicals – are built. Like a phoenix arising from the ashes, Liberia and Sierra Leone, both once ravaged by civil war, are keen to develop their mineral reserves. Along with Burkina Faso and Mali, they have been successful in attracting foreign investment for the funding of a number of mining properties.
Located in Guinea, the Simandou hills boast what is thought to be the world’s largest deposits of untapped iron ore. Economic growth in Guinea has been driven by its mining sector. Although the country has high grades of iron ore and low processing costs, infrastructural challenges remain the greatest hurdle to the production of the many reserves. Railways are often the preferred choice of transportation but provide many restrictions in moving for the mined material. In spite of these challenges, political unrest has abated and with mining titans Vale and Rio Tinto setting up in the region, a slipstream has been created for other mining companies to follow suit.
Ghana has managed to develop a stringent fiscal regime that encourages the production of its mineral wealth. Bauxite, limestone and manganese are mined in large quantities, in addition to gold. In the tragicomedy of Nigerian economics, if black gold is the protagonist, the yellow kind and its kin are the antagonists. Beneath Nigeria’s earth sleeps a giant of huge economic potential. Policymakers have thus far tiptoed around the issue of stimulating the sector. Coupled with a lack of geological data, it remains to be seen whether or not the solid mineral sector will have its rude awakening.
As the West averts its gaze towards Africa, proper resource governance will be essential to ensuring prospective investors operate within a legal and fiscal framework to sustain both economic and community development in the countries they operate.

Unearth The TITAN

By mid-June, as FORBES AFRICA went to press, there was no sign of an end to the longest mining strike in South African history. For five months, Lonim, Implats and Angloplats – which produces 40% of the world’s platinum – lay idle at a cost of more than $2 billion to the economy.
New mining minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi tried to heal the rift in his first few days in office, but fresh talks fizzled out inside two weeks.
May proved a month of tragedy, farce and scorn in the platinum belt of South Africa. Tragedy as 4,000 hungry women and children of miners turned up for 500 food parcels; farce because of Lonmin’s clumsy attempt to end the strike and scorn from most of the miners.
Lonmin issued an ultimatum for miners to report for duty on May 14 and offered to charter buses. Instead, more than 4,000 Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) members gathered at the nearby Wonderkop Stadium, carrying traditional weapons.
Lonmin claims a few slipped past the strikers to work, but police say there were none.
Regardless, Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa gave assurances to the traditional weapon wielding miners that their jobs were safe in the protracted strike. He accused Lonmin management of undermining the union by talking directly to employees.
“We have the law on our side. The employers have breached the recognition agreement signed between them and Amcu, the majority union in the platinum sector… Don’t allow them to instigate you to the point you do unlawful things,” Mathunjwa warned.
He rubbished allegations his members were responsible for the attacks on the non-striking miners around Rustenburg. Four people died, several others suffered stab wounds.
Mathunjwa further warned that the police deployment to the platinum belt could lead to another Marikana massacre. In August 2012, at least 34 Amcu protesters were shot dead by police in Marikana.
“If the strike is protected and lawful, why is the government deploying police. To do what?” asks Mathunjwa.
“We are so close to Canaan, there’s no way we are returning to Egypt,” says Jimmy Gama, the union’s national treasurer.
A few kilometers from the stadium, where Mathunjwa left in a fleet of luxury vehicles, the central business district of Marikana painted a gloomy and desperate picture. Many businesses have closed since the miners downed tools on January 23.
On May 19, Lonmin management called journalists to their headquarters in Melrose Arch, Johannesburg, they looked and sounded desperate.
“We are asking who is benefitting from the strike. Are the rising incidents of violence not making the strike dysfunctional?” says Lonmin CEO, Ben Magara.
On May 20, platinum bosses and the union met again at the Labor Court in Johannesburg, stripped to the waist and ready to fight each other over whether employers should directly communicate with their employees or not.
Despite the presiding judge, Hilary Rabkin-Naicker, managing to get the two parties back to the negotiating table, no agreement was reached after a week.
“Reaching an affordable and sustainable agreement with Amcu would be in all of our interests, and that remains our preference. We remain committed to on-going dialogue with Amcu and other stakeholders to find a way to end the strike. The companies welcome the intervention of the Labor Court,” says a statement from Lonmin management before the wage impasse.

Sad Days Of Tragedy, Farce  And Scorn

It is a Tuesday morning in Rustenburg, the heart of the platinum belt, in the north west of South Africa. On days like this, at the end of the month, this town is usually buzzing with business. The hardship of months of striking at the platinum mines has turned Rustenburg into a ghost town – a poor one at that.
“There’s no business at all here, sales have dropped drastically since the strike resumed in January. We don’t even come close to the business target. Food is going to waste as there are no customers buying. The business has reached its all-time low figures,” laments a restaurant manager who has put her staff on short time.
The manager at this restaurant, who asked not to be named, says because of the long Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) strike she was instructed to reduce her staff’s working hours and pay.
“The bosses are aware of the situation. Generally, a sound business practice is that if you fail to make profit, you either close shop or downsize the staff. I have a fear this will happen if the strike does not end soon. People are suffering; I have a fear that crime will rise because people are desperate to make ends meet. In this shop we also fear for our lives. What if someone walks in armed and demands we hand him chicken,” she says.
At around lunchtime, Marikana Fruit and Veg co-owner, Michael Bendu, was removing rotten bananas from the shelves. He says he hasn’t had a customer all day.
“For me the business is 80% down and I am about to close shop if it continues like this in this month. Electricity, salaries, the rent of this shop and my house are taking their toll. I can’t deal with it.”
Bendu supplies mine hawkers and was making $955 a day before the strike.
“You can stay with me for the day; I promise you will hardly see customers entering the shop. Those who come are not buying in bulk. We can’t carry on like this. I have plenty of credit accounts with my customers but they can’t pay and I understand their plight,” he says.
Bendu often ends up giving away his fruit rather than see it rot.
“Here we survive by mineworkers. The mines are the backbone of our economy. I don’t know what will happen when the backbone collapses,” Bendu.
A few hundred meters from Bendu’s shop stands Marikana Wholesalers, operating since 2006, a stone’s throw away from where miners camp.
Owner, David Neto, says he lost around $955 though rotting food in March alone. In the past, he used to lend money to his hard-up workers but he can’t afford that anymore.
“I am at my bones. I can’t afford to further cut down the prices. It doesn’t make business sense,” says Neto.
“My staff is currently on flexi-hours. I have to force them to take leave, taking advantage of the poor business. The current situation is hurting everyone, I can’t afford a fulltime domestic worker anymore and I need a plumber but I can’t call him. The situation is creating all kinds of nonsense. Everyone is desperate these days. Taxis are forcing passengers off buses. It’s chaos here. My turnover is half of what it used to be. It is painful that I am paying my workers to look at passing people and watch the sun turning,” says Neto.
The taxis that ferry thousands of miners are also feeling the pain.
“Business is bad; the strike is the worst in the history of platinum mines. These are the days we would be seen busy but people are not using our services. This strike must come to an end because the banks will repossess our taxis as we are failing to pay our debts,” says Mojalefa Rantoa, a taxi driver.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-2691" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/DSCF3154-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" />
On the side of the road, two Mozambican hawkers, Gina Javana and Julia Makwakwa, watch their pile of spinach and tomatoes rot, along with their dreams.
“Worst time ever. We are so despondent. We came to Marikana to make ends meet but now we don’t know why we should stay when things have turned this bad. We couldn’t return home in December and Good Friday is here. We have no means to see our families, we are stuck here,” says Makwakwa.
Godfrey Jakaya, a 30-year-old Tanzanian herbalist, says in his five years in Marikana it’s never been so bad. He has had to move to a smaller shop to save rent.
“The business is not doing well, my family is living off my savings but it’s drying up. I am just glad my two children are too young to understand what we are going through with my unemployed wife. No more KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) meat for them.”
The strike has led to increased violence in the area. Business owners are the targets of robbers who are desperate to get their hands on their stock. Some striking miners have also been involved in clashes with police and workers on their way to the mines.
It has been tough on the strikers, who used to earn around $400 a month, as well. A group of striking Amcu members is seen walking aimlessly in the market area.
“Our landlords are on strike as we are. They understand we can’t pay as we are not earning a penny. But we have an understanding that we hustle for electricity and that’s all we can manage,” says one striker, who refused to give his name.
If the strike is still on when you read this, the hustle of Rustenburg can only get worse.

Rotten Food,  Rotten Strike

It’s the first day of the strike, on January 23, and a huge crowd gathers at the Wonderkop Stadium, near Rustenburg in South Africa, to listen to Joseph Mathunjwa, the chairman of the Association of Construction and Mineworkers Union (Amcu). Seventy thousand union members have downed tools at the platinum mines.
As early as 7AM, police officers and the mine’s security guards keep watch. The venue is surrounded by razor wire and armored vehicles. The stadium is a few hundred meters from Marikana, the site where 44 people died in a clash between striking miners and police in August, 2012.
<div id="attachment_2516" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2516" class="size-medium wp-image-2516" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/IMG_6885-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" />The Miners are Coming</div>
“People are watching this strike, speculating it is Marikana II. That will not happen. We’re peacefully fighting for our rights as workers. We want a better life. The blood of our brothers was shed fighting for better wages. We won’t betray them,” Mathunjwa says in Zulu to the roaring crowd.
Despite the leadership’s assurance of a peaceful protest, a few strikers are seen carrying traditional weapons, sjamboks (heavy whips) and sticks.
“It is not a foreign thing for Nguni men (a broad ethnic group of South Africa) to carry their sjamboks and sticks. We are not going to war or planning to violate others rights to choose who to associate with,” says Jack Mkhoba, the chairperson for Amcu’s Lonmin branch.
Mathunjwa calls for tolerance and respect for those who continue working. The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), which lost its majority at the platinum mines to Amcu, is not part of the strike. There is still simmering tension between the unions.
Mathunjwa also accuses the mine of trying to make the negotiations drag on.
“The time to fool around with black people is over. The African economy must benefit Africans. We are not negotiating percentages, they mean nothing to us; we only understand the rand, our currency.”
Mathunjwa says the government, media and economists are too quick to criticize the union  for destabilizing the economy.
<div id="attachment_2515" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2515" class="size-medium wp-image-2515" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/IMG_6517-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" />The Miners are Coming</div>
“When CEOs and bosses give themselves more than R21 million ($1.9 million) in bonuses, they do not condemn that. Whose side are they on?”
Mathunjwa had the crowd in stitches when he shared anecdotes of the encounters he had with the management of the mining companies.
“One Sunday afternoon, I was invited over by the employers. Upon leaving the discussion, I left them with homework to figure out how much they are spending on their dogs, which is ridiculously way over what the employees take home?”
James Nichol, the British lawyer representing the victims of Marikana, gave the workers a surprise visit in a striped red tie. He stood out like a sore thumb.
Nichol danced to struggle songs with the workers and encouraged them to fight for their demands.
“It’s your duty to get justice for yourselves and families by fighting for R12,500,” says Nichol.
Amcu’s national organizer, Dumisani Nkalityana, encouraged the strikers to not let up.
“There’s no red carpet towards achieving our demands, we need to make sure we make it for ourselves,” he says.
The union members are far from united. A faction of Amcu say Mathunjwa is a dictator and accuse him of living large at the expense of workers. Mathunjwa dismisses the allegations, referring to the group as mischievous former Amcu members.
The mines, losing a fortune every day the strike continues, are hoping a solution can be found-quickly.
On this day, Anglo American Platinum, the largest platinum company, says its losing approximately 4,000 ounces and R100 million ($9 million) per day.
<div id="attachment_2518" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2518" class="size-medium wp-image-2518" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/IMG_6411-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" />The Miners are Coming</div>
“We are adamant that we will continue to engage with Amcu and have accepted the offer by the deputy president for a government-facilitated mediation process in order to find a resolution. Striking is not a constructive solution if we are to return the company to a sustainable financial footing and secure existing jobs,” says Chris Griffith, the CEO of Anglo American Platinum.
Griffith says the company will work with law enforcement agencies to help maintain peace and stability during the strike. His words were in vain.
Anglo American reported a 10% employee attendance rate on the first day of the strike and closed operations.
&nbsp;
DAY TWO
On the second day of the strike, South Africa’s mining minister, Susan Shabangu, brokers a three-day wage negotiation between Amcu and three of the big mining companies at the Southern Sun Hotel in Pretoria. Amcu books rooms at the hotel for its officials.
The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) is appointed as the facilitator between the union and Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), Impala Platinum (Implats) and Lonmin. The companies’ initial offer of an 8.5% increase falls short of the union’s demand of a R12,500 salary for entry level employees.
By the end of the negotiations, the mines have a new offer of 9% on the table. Amcu is unimpressed.
“How can you be satisfied with an offer that does not address the living wage?” asks Amcu spokesman, Jimmy Gama.
“The talks were cordially conducted in a positive atmosphere but I can’t say they were amicable as we are not getting what we wanted, which is R12,500.”
The companies’ response is unchanged. They say the demands are unrealistic and unreasonable.
“We are not issuing any threats to anybody at this point. We are very clear that employers can afford what the union demands,” adds Joseph Maqhekeni, the chairman of National Council of Trade Unions (Nactu)—the federation that Amcu is affiliated to.
On the last day of negotiations, union members are seen checking out of the hotel. It doesn’t look good. They are in a somber mood and are seen milling around nervously. Two shop stewards play struggle songs and the national anthem, Nkosi sikelel’ iAfrika, on the hotel’s piano.
Most of the union members do not believe they will receive positive news; they are all keen to continue with the strike.
&nbsp;
DAY EIGHT
January 30 is D-day for the striking mineworkers. An offer of a 9% wage increase is on the table.
On a scorching morning, Amcu members, in their green union shirts, gather outside mine shafts around the North West province of South Africa to hear from shop stewards on the negotiations.
Striking workers at Amplats’ mine in Bleskop, Rustenburg, are among the first to turn down the revised wage increase. The mineworkers sit in the shade of a tree, talking and drinking beer. At least it is peaceful. A security guard confirms there is no intimidation.
At Batho Pele mine, another Amplats operation a few kilometers away, striking miners play cards and listen to music in their cars. Under the watch of security guards in armoured vehicles, the miners meet in the shade of a marquee.
The irate miners stand firm. They say the increase is insufficient and will not cover their bonds or match rising inflation.
Meanwhile, the mining bosses are counting the cost. Griffith says the strike halted production of around 40% of global platinum supply.
“We estimate that the daily cost to the country is closer to R400 million ($36 million) a day,” he says.
&nbsp;
DAY 15
A week later, a clash between strikers and police officers, at the Amplats mine in Limpopo, sees the death of a shop steward. A non-striking miner also was attacked near the Khuseleka mine in Rustenburg, while one vehicle and an excavator were set alight. Fourteen other vehicles were also damaged.
“It is with sadness that we learnt of the death of one of our employees. We extend our heartfelt condolences to the families, friends and colleagues of the deceased. We strongly urge striking employees to adhere to the picketing rules and remain within the picketing designated areas as agreed with Amcu. We condemn any act of violence, intimidation and damage to property,” says Griffith.
This violent period does not deter strikers. As of going to print, there was no end in sight to one of the most expensive strikes in African history.

‘The Time To Fool Around With Black People Is Over’

PRECIOUS GOES GLOBAL

On a dirt road, outside the mining shafts of Lonmin, 120 kilometers north west of Johannesburg there are 34 white crosses.
Days before the first anniversary of Marikana, miners ripped them up and threw them among the nearby rocks. The beating sun and biting wind eats at their enamel sheen.
A South African opposition party put up these crosses to commemorate the bloodbath. A year on, rock drill operator Siphiwe Booi, who has worked in the depths of Lonmin’s mine for 23 years, is tearing them down.
“The DA [Democratic Alliance] put these crosses up, not us [the miners]. It was a ploy to win votes. We are going to surround this hill with a fence and put up a headstone with all the names of those who fell. Us. The miners,” says Booi.
<div id="attachment_2111" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2111" class="size-medium wp-image-2111" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/IMG_8437-300x226.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="226" />Head of the Marikana Commission, Ian Farlam, leaves after postponing proceedings again</div>
In many ways the rise and fall of the crosses is one of the precious few manifestations of change in the post-Marikana world.
Miners, such as Booi, want justice rather than memorials, for the 34 miners who died on August 16, 2012, in a wildcat strike.
“I woke up that day to find the verdict of the wage negotiations. Little did I know, I was waking up to death. I remember the line of police shouting: ‘Media get back’. The police stepped forward in a line. Then the sound came: ta-ta-ta-ta. The next I saw was a man in a Bafana Bafana shirt dropping next to me,” says Booi.
He fumbles in his jeans and pulls out a cellphone. He points to a picture.
“This was my friend, my work colleague, that was August 16,” he says.
Booi feels nothing has changed since that day. He is also one of the many witnesses who stood in the hallway of the Farlam Commission, an hour-and-a-half drive from his home in Marikana West. The commission, in Centurion near Pretoria, was charged by President Jacob Zuma to find out who was to blame for Marikana.
On the same day Booi was pulling up the crosses, the families of mine workers and police alike rubbed shoulders, a world away, at the commission. They sat, ringed by cameramen, united by the need for closure. Among suits, laptops and lever arch files the truth is expected to emerge.
The commission has sent a year sifting through 12,000 pages of statements, inspections, video footage and evidence. The end, expected on October 13, is nowhere in sight. The commission has not moved at the speed he wished, admits Ian Farlam, head of the commission and retired Supreme Court judge, days before the anniversary.
The delay has been hard for Lizy Maubane, sister of one of the policemen who was killed on August 13 2012.  Since his death she has been depressed, at times suicidal. All she wants is closure.
Accusations of unequal funding have also delayed the commission, admits Farlam.
Advocate Dali Mpofu, who represents the injured miners, walked out of the commission after he was not paid. The miners must pay R400,000 ($40,000) a month for Mpofu&#8217;s services. The tax payers collect a R36 million ($3.6 million) bill for the defense of the police.
Mpofu refuses to defend the miners until he has taken the matter to the South African Constitutional Court. Here, he hopes to be granted state funds.
The 12 parties at the commission are allowed to cross-examine each witness—testimony that has to be heard in several languages. This is an issue, says Farlam.
“With so many witnesses and cross-examinations it was inevitable that the process would not be rapid,&#8221; he says.
The good news is that the commission has been granted funds to install a simultaneous translation device, which will speed up the fact checking process, says Farlam.
In the interim, Farlam is eager to push through with proceedings, hoping a secret financial backer can pay Mpofu’s bill. A large scale walkout could spell disaster.
“I just want to say one thing to the government, please pay the lawyers,” says Booi.
The mining industry is also struggling, post Marikana. According to the Chamber of Mines, 60% of the gold mines in South Africa are unprofitable. Costs are rising amid the threat of more wildcat strikes. Even the time honored pay negotiations are in dispute and disarray.
For the miners, who sweat underground, the future of mining is a far away concept. They are too busy struggling to live. At the very least in Centurion, it’s the lawyers, wearing suits that cost more than a year’s wages in the mines, that have the job of unearthing the truth so that justice can be done.

Tag: Mining

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

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Diamonds May Not Be Forever

A Glass Ceiling Even A Pickaxe Can’t Break

Natural Resources A Gift Not A Curse

Work To Be Done But There Is Hope

Gloves Off In Gold

The unwanted Puppy In Need Of Rescue

Anything Is Possible If You Wish Hard Enough

Unearth The TITAN

Sad Days Of Tragedy, Farce And Scorn

Rotten Food, Rotten Strike

‘The Time To Fool Around With Black People Is Over’

PRECIOUS GOES GLOBAL

Little Did I Know, I Was Waking Up To Death