Anglo takes the heat on fatalities
• Activist questions Anglo American Platinum at meeting about rise in mining deaths and payments to families
Corporate activist Theo Botha grilled Anglo American Platinum’s top executives for almost half an hour at the group’s annual general meeting on Friday about the sharp increase in the number of mine workers killed in 2016 from 2015 and its failure to disclose the amount paid to the bereaved families.
Corporate activist Theo Botha grilled Anglo American Platinum’s top executives for almost half-an-hour at the group’s annual general meeting on Friday about the sharp increase in the number of mine workers killed in 2016 from 2015 and its failure to disclose the amount paid to the bereaved families.
Botha’s call for leadership accountability reflected the livelier events on the same theme taking place in the streets below, where marches were being held to call for the resignation of President Jacob Zuma.
At the start of the meeting, Anglo Platinum chairman Valli Moosa requested a moment’s silence for the seven mine workers who died. Botha pointed out that Moosa, who had been alerted to his questions, had made no mention of these deaths in the chairman’s report in the annual statements, although they were up sharply from the two killed in 2015.
Moosa said it was an omission and he had not intended to create the impression that the matter was being taken lightly.
Botha asked what was being done to make safety improvements and why fatalities were not given more prominence than the 3% component in the key performance indicators for the CEO’s remuneration.
Anglo Platinum CEO Chris Griffith said the number of fatalities at the group had fallen from 25-30 a year a few years ago to two in 2015, which showed the level of effort that had gone into tackling safety. Other measurements, such as lost-time injuries, had improved.
The increase in deaths in 2016 was disappointing and efforts to tackle safety had redoubled, Griffith said. For the past few months, Anglo Platinum had been working on a strategy for safety, health and the environment that was being rolled out across the operations.
Director Pinky Moholi, the chairwoman of the remuneration committee, said a number of safety measurements were taken into account for remuneration. Although management scored zero on deaths, other metrics had improved.
Mehluli Mncube, representing the Mines Pension Fund, commended the group for its improved disclosure on remuneration, but said the R124m allocated among 10 executives, in an industry that was particularly volatile on the issue of remuneration to employees, raised questions about the level of restraint being exercised.
Botha, who has urged at several previous mining companies' meetings that there should be more disclosure on the amounts paid to bereaved families, made the point again.
It was not necessary to go into details, just to disclose in general terms what life insurance cover was available to employees, he said.
Moosa gave the assurance to shareholders that Anglo Platinum was doing everything in its power to ensure families got immediate material support and he was satisfied the group was “doing the right thing”.