Up to court to unravel Implats arrest mystery

It will take arguments in court to fully understand what was behind the charging of the highly regarded and experienced head of Impala Platinum’s (Implats) Rustenburg mines for violations of the lockdown by calling a limited number of people back to work.

This story was odd from the start. Implats sent messages to some of its employees to come back to work, saying it had asked for and been granted approval for limited work at its Rustenburg mines by the department of mineral resources & energy.

About 6,000 mineworkers were stopped by police, who had thrown up a cordon around the mines, stopping every access point.

Mark Munroe, CEO of Implats’s Rustenburg division, is in court on lockdown violation charges, appearing as the face of the division. He was released on bail of R60,000.

Mineral resources & energy minister Gwede Mantashe said the day before Munroe appeared in court that his ministry, the industry and labour regarded the whole matter as an “irritation”.

Was there an overzealous interpretation of lockdown laws by the head of police in Rustenburg, someone who wished to set an example and apply the strictest interpretation of the regulations about the movement of people and other aspects? Is this a case of one set of officials not recognising permissions granted by another set of officials? Maybe.

Did Implats jump the gun on Mantashe’s announcement that mines could return to 50% capacity during lockdown and were responsible for the transport of mineworkers? Was it acting within the approvals from the department? Maybe.

But it’s difficult to conceive of a company the size and stature of Implats, with the massively experienced Munroe, making such a basic mistake.

It’s going to take a court case and a judge to unravel this case.

After a call from the government for private sector entities to contribute to the national Covid-19 effort, EOH and its subsidiary iOCO decided to build the Solidarity Fund’s online presence. One has to wonder how much the troubled technology firm actually invested in the project, which the company says took under 48 hours to complete.

EOH said the project was undertaken on a pro bono basis, as part of the group’s ongoing support and commitment to stop the spread of Covid-19. This announcement comes as the technology group says it will cut executive and staff pay to rein in costs and save jobs. This is partly in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has wreaked havoc globally, causing a shutdown of operations in a bid to curb the spread of the virus.

EOH, which is battling a debt pile more than four times its market capitalisation, joins other companies such as Mr Price and Woolworths that have taken similar action.

The group’s executive committee members will cut their salaries by a quarter, while it also proposes a 20% reduction in salaries for staff paid more than R250,000 a year. The company will consult staff on its proposal.

SA is under a 35-day lockdown aimed at reducing the rapid spread of coronavirus, which has claimed 58 lives in SA, with more than 3,300 people testing positive.