R175m deal while on the mine’s dime
morning. This guy said he would not invest into a recovery operation and asked what his return would be. Recovering the bodies could take another year and it could take a further two years to pay him back,” said the source.
Compounding the financial problems are the outstanding salaries, overtime and call-out allowances owed to 900 workers since April this year, a R4.4-million compensation pay-out to the families of the three dead mineworkers and 75 others who survived the collapse, as well he largely controls, will dominate the trust.
At a meeting on April 15, attended by amaBhungane, more than 400 community members gave human rights lawyer Richard Spoor a mandate to challenge the agreement in court.
Asked to comment on Langa’s business relationship with Mokgalakwena, AngloPlats’s spokes- as a delay in processing the AfroCan investment.
The financial trouble, protests by the unions and political parties and the failed bid for bridging investment has left Lily Mine’s management in a panic.
Last weekend the managers gave each worker R1 000 out of their own pockets after announcing that the outstanding payments would not be made because the mine had not yet received money from AfroCan.
Trade union Solidarity accused the NUM and government of putting the jobs of the mine’s 900 workers at risk.
“The minister and NUM are making populist remarks. They must realise that 900 people are still alive and are on the brink of poverty,” said Solidarity’s general secretary, Gideon du Plessis.
“There’s no guarantee they will ever find the bodies due to the severe impact of the collapse, so it’s totally irresponsible to call upon the closure of a mine and put 900 jobs at stake.”
The majority union at the mine, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu), said it was satisfied with the company’s plan to reach the container by completing the decline shaft, and suggested that the government should pay the R4.4-million compensation to the families and surviving workers.
“Is it fair to make such an announcement while you don’t know the finances of the company? As a union we were not consulted. The minister made that commitment and, suddenly after the NUM the dam they once used was now in the mining area and they are experience water shortages and poor sanitation.
Mapela residents also raised questions about the closeness of the bond between Langa and the community, alleging that neither he nor his mother, the former chief, lived at the traditional palace in Fothane village and that he only visited Mapela two or three times a month.
Langa said he had two residences, one in Pretoria and one in Mokopane, and that he visited Mapela three times a week.
He also said he no longer lived at the traditional palace in Mapela because part of it was burnt down during violent protests in September last year by residents who complained that they received few benefits from the Mokgalakwena mine.
Langa dismissed claims that he was recently driven out of the village of Ga-Molekane. said it expected the same at other mines, he opted to make the company pay. Whoever committed must pay,” said Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa.
Du Plessis called on the unions and the state to stop issuing ultimatums and to help ensure the mine isn’t shut down for good.
“The problem is, investors are very hesitant because there is no financial return on investing in the recovery [of the container]. The NUM and minister of mineral resources must assist us in trying to secure funding.”
Residents there say they did so because they were unhappy with his attempts to renegotiate a lease with the mine in terms of the settlement agreement.
Seara Mkhabela, AngloPlats’s head of corporate affairs, said the company “was cognisant of the concerns raised by some members of the Mapela community in relation to the establishment of the Mapela trust”.
“We are willing to do our bit in reviewing community representation, transparency and engagement processes to ensure tangible and lasting benefits. We can only achieve this through ongoing engagement with a unified Mapela.”
Mkhabela said the company was legally obliged to deal with the chief.