Workers have until Wednesday to re-apply for their jobs
South Africa’s National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) urged its members on Monday to accept an offer by Impala Platinum to rehire miners at its Rustenburg operation, the scene of a violent illegal strike.
NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni said the workers needed to accept the offer “to prevent permanent job losses”. It remains unclear if they will heed the call amid intimidation against workers who have tried to return to work.
The strike at Implats’ Rustenburg operation, the world’s largest platinum mine, has cost the company at least 80,000 ounces in lost output and is a key reason behind a 21% spike in the precious metal’s spot price this year.
Production has effectively been halted since Jan. 12.
The strike has pitted the NUM against an upstart union, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), and saw Implats sack 17,200 workers.
Three men have been killed in clashes between the rival factions.
Implats said on Saturday that workers had until 1300 GMT on Wednesday to reapply for their jobs.
By Saturday, more than 8,700 had already reapplied, the company said.
It has said that because the strike had reduced its operational capacity, it would only be able to rehire 15,000 of the 17,200 fired workers.
ZIMBABWE HANDS ULTIMATUM TO IMPLATS
Impala Platinum’s Zimbabwe unit, Zimplats, has been ordered to transfer 29,5% of its shares to a state-run fund in order to comply with local empowerment laws, according to a letter written by a government minister.
Zimplats, 87% owned by Implats, had failed to comply fully with the law, which seeks to localize at least 51% of shares in all foreign-owned firms, empowerment minister Saviour Kasukuwere wrote in a letter seen by Reuters on Sunday.
Failure to present the government with a plan to transfer the holding within two weeks would result in unspecified “enforcement mechanisms”, the letter added.
Kasukuwere has in the past threatened to cancel the mining licences of firms that do not comply.
On Friday, Implats said Zimbabwe had rejected part of its empowerment plan, along with that of Mimosa, its 50-50 joint venture platinum mine with Aquarius Platinum.
Both mines have recently launched community share ownership trusts, to which they each gave 10% shareholdings each.
Zimbabwe’s empowerment laws, being championed by President Robert Mugabe, have been criticized by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, his partner in a shaky coalition government formed three years ago after violent and disputed elections in 2008.
Analysts say the law is holding back the impoverished southern African country’s economic recovery from a decade of turbulence and contraction.
Critics link the empowerment push to Mugabe’s plans to hold elections this year.
NUM urges strikers to accept Implats offer
Workers have until Wednesday to re-apply for their jobs
South Africa’s National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) urged its members on Monday to accept an offer by Impala Platinum to rehire miners at its Rustenburg operation, the scene of a violent illegal strike.
NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni said the workers needed to accept the offer “to prevent permanent job losses”. It remains unclear if they will heed the call amid intimidation against workers who have tried to return to work.
The strike at Implats’ Rustenburg operation, the world’s largest platinum mine, has cost the company at least 80,000 ounces in lost output and is a key reason behind a 21% spike in the precious metal’s spot price this year.
Production has effectively been halted since Jan. 12.
The strike has pitted the NUM against an upstart union, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), and saw Implats sack 17,200 workers.
Three men have been killed in clashes between the rival factions.
Implats said on Saturday that workers had until 1300 GMT on Wednesday to reapply for their jobs.
By Saturday, more than 8,700 had already reapplied, the company said.
It has said that because the strike had reduced its operational capacity, it would only be able to rehire 15,000 of the 17,200 fired workers.
ZIMBABWE HANDS ULTIMATUM TO IMPLATS
Impala Platinum’s Zimbabwe unit, Zimplats, has been ordered to transfer 29,5% of its shares to a state-run fund in order to comply with local empowerment laws, according to a letter written by a government minister.
Zimplats, 87% owned by Implats, had failed to comply fully with the law, which seeks to localize at least 51% of shares in all foreign-owned firms, empowerment minister Saviour Kasukuwere wrote in a letter seen by Reuters on Sunday.
Failure to present the government with a plan to transfer the holding within two weeks would result in unspecified “enforcement mechanisms”, the letter added.
Kasukuwere has in the past threatened to cancel the mining licences of firms that do not comply.
On Friday, Implats said Zimbabwe had rejected part of its empowerment plan, along with that of Mimosa, its 50-50 joint venture platinum mine with Aquarius Platinum.
Both mines have recently launched community share ownership trusts, to which they each gave 10% shareholdings each.
Zimbabwe’s empowerment laws, being championed by President Robert Mugabe, have been criticized by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, his partner in a shaky coalition government formed three years ago after violent and disputed elections in 2008.
Analysts say the law is holding back the impoverished southern African country’s economic recovery from a decade of turbulence and contraction.
Critics link the empowerment push to Mugabe’s plans to hold elections this year.
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