Motlanthe steps in to broker peace in mining sector

DEPUTY President Kgalema Motlanthe has again been handed a mammoth near-impossible task, soon after he chaired a task team on electronic tolling at the height of public anger on the matter.

Mr Motlanthe has been handed the arduous task of brokering a truce between players in the volatile mining sector, President Jacob Zuma announced yesterday.

However, Mr Motlanthe is a seasoned negotiator, having cut his teeth as the general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and may be perfectly placed to manage tensions as well as calm investor jitters in the sector.

The labour unrest in the mining sector climaxed in the Marikana tragedy which saw 34 miners killed in a bloody shooting by police on August 16.

NUM general secretary Frans Baleni, who worked with Mr Motlanthe during his tenure at the helm of the union, yesterday described him as a “master negotiator” who never gets angry, does not easily give up and is a “principled negotiator”. “He deals with facts. “He is calm and he is focused,” Mr Baleni said.

Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) treasurer-general Jimmy Gama appeared to be unaware of Mr Motlanthe’s new role when contacted for comment yesterday.

“It is not an issue that we discussed as an organisation; it would be difficult to comment. Maybe we need to see the terms of reference as to what role he is going to play,” he said.

Mr Motlanthe steps into his latest role, with Amcu accusing government ministers of bias in their dealings in favour of the NUM, which is a key part of the governing tripartite alliance.

The work done by the high-level interministerial task team, which Mr Motlanthe headed, on e-tolling in Gauteng, was not well received by critics, who said it was merely a “talk shop’’ to rubber-stamp an existing government decision.

Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa) chairman Wayne Duvenhage yesterday said the setting up of that task team seemed a “ticking of the boxes exercise” for the government.

Outa and the Congress of South African Trade Unions continue to fight against e-tolling in Gauteng, with the government adamant that the contentious system will be rolled out. The team recommended that the system be implemented but its report, said Mr Duvenhage, has yet to be released.

Mr Motlanthe successfully chaired the South African National AIDS Council, which has made significant progress in bringing together the government, civil society and the private sector to respond to HIV and tuberculosis.

Soon after his defeat at the ANC’s Mangaung conference in December, many had ruled out Mr Motlanthe’s further career, expecting that he would resign. But Mr Zuma stepped in, assuring that his number two would be allowed to continue.