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As a result, Sibanye-Stillwater said it would start consultation with organised labour and other affected stakeholders over the possible restructuring of its South African gold operations.

The Secretary General of the Swa

MBABANE – A Limkokwing University of Creative Technology (LUCT) student has been sentenced to 18 months imprisonment for assaulting her colleague.

Nkosingiphile Nhlabatsi was sentenced after she was found guilty of assaulting Nosipho Mpanza, who she shared a room with at Sidwashini.

Upon issuing the sentence, Magistrate Innocent Motsa considered the evidence of the Crown, which paraded three witnesses including the complainant.

The evidence presented in court ziland Migrant Workers Association (SWAMIWA), Vama Jele said the restructuring was likely to affect some of emaSwati. He said a large number of Eswatini mineworkers were employed at Sibanye.

“Most of emaSwati are in the gold section, in Free State, Gauteng and North West, so they will be affected the most,” he said.

“We have very few emaSwati in the Platinum sector at Sibanye-Stillwater,” he added.

Affected

Jele said he had not been made aware of the exact number of emaSwati who would be affected.

Jele this week said they had scheduled a meeting with the mines executives where the issues would be addressed, including the criteria for pointed out that Nhlabatsi assaulted Mpanza after the latter had accused her of stealing her laptop, which went missing from the room.

The court considered the conduct of Nhlabatsi during the commission of the offences.

There was evidence to the effect that Nhlabatsi said; “Ngifuna kukukhipha loMkhitsi.” The court observed that Mpanza was from Mkhitsini area, which left it with the impression that by so saying, Nhlabatsi meant she wanted to deal with Mpanza decisively.

Motsa considered the manner in which Mpanza was strangled as alleged the retrenchment.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security in 2020, the country had around 2 900 mineworkers in South Africa. At least half of them were said to be employed at Sibanye-Stillwater.

Sibanye spokesperson James Wellsted, told News24 the company was exploring the opportunity to mine uranium at Beatrix 4 because - with higher prices - an economic case might be made for it now.

Essentially

“We’re not sure whether it will come to fruition, or whether it will be viable … But essentially, the gold mining part of it has now reached the end of its life … we can’t continue to absorb losses,” he said.

The National Union of Mineworkers by the witnesses. One of the witnesses told the court that she witnessed Nhlabatsi strangling Mpanza along the passage.

Motsa also considered the evidence which pointed out that Nhlabatsi boasted that she feared nobody when Mpanza threatened to report her to her brothers.

Failed

The judicial officer also considered Nhlabatsi’s conduct during the course of the trial. He said the accused failed to show remorse for her actions.

However, the court did not overlook Nhlabatsi’s mitigation. She pleaded for the court’s leniency, stating that (NUM) has labelled Sibanye-Stillwater’s plans to restructure its gold operations, and potentially retrench of more than 2 000 workers, as a ‘form of punishment’ for a three-month strike at its operations this year.

Shocked

The union, in a statement released on Wednesday afternoon, said it was shocked to hear that the company was mulling the retrenchments of employees at Beatrix 4 shaft in the Free State and Kloof 1 and 2 plants in Gauteng.

NUM said it would, in the meantime, go through the served notice since the purpose of the Section 189 consultation process is to engage in a meaningful joint consensus-seeking process in an attempt to avoid job losses. she was unemployed as she had just completed her studies at the university. She told the court that she had no one to fine on her behalf.

“In issuing an appropriate sentence, the court had to consider the interest of society, your personal circumstances and the interest of justice. There is no doubt that the complainant was assaulted on the day in question and it is the duty of this court to issue a sentence that would serve as a deterrence to offenders and other wouldbe offenders,” Motsa said before sentencing Nhlabatsi to 18 months imprisonment. Nhlabatsi was given an option to pay a E1800 fine.