Wharton-hood to join Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank announced yesterday that Peter WhartonHood would be joining the bank to succeed Herman Bosman as the company’s chief country officer for South Africa. He will be responsible for the strategic direction and overall governance of the bank’s South African operations. Wharton-Hood joins Deutsche Bank from Standard Bank where he was group chief operating officer. – Staff writer LONMIN signed a recognition agreement yesterday with the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) ahead of the one-year commemoration of the killing of 44 people on and around its Marikana mine.
The signing of the agreement is Ben Magara’s first public accomplishment since becoming the chief executive of Lonmin last month.
Magara, who was previously the Anglo American Platinum executive head of engineering, joined Lonmin on July 1 to take over from Simon Scott, who had been acting as chief executive since Ian Farmer took ill a year ago.
Speculation was rife about the timing of the signing ceremony on the eve of the first anniversary of the Marikana massacre and Magara’s acid test will be his handling of the upcoming wage negotiations with the radical Amcu. The union has made wage demand increases of between 60 percent to 100 percent in the gold sector and has indicated it had similar expectations in the platinum industry.
“I’m delighted to announce the signing of our recognition agreement; it is excellent news for Lonmin, for our employees and for all our stakeholders. I would like to recognise the efforts of both our teams, Amcu and Lonmin,” Magara said.
Amcu represents 70 percent of unskilled Lonmin employees and takes the mantle from the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), whose membership has waned below the recognition threshold.
Joseph Mathunjwa, the president of Amcu, said: “We have different mandates, but we acknowledge that without co-operation we are all losers and that, as leaders, we must find a way to ensure we can move forward together in peace and stability.”
Amcu is the only body that has so far declined to sign the Framework for a Sustainable Mining Industry initiated by Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, and aimed at restoring peace and boosting investor confidence in mining.
Meanwhile, Solidarity, which represents skilled workers at Lonmin, announced yesterday that it had been deregistered by the platinum producer but would not take the matter lying down.
General secretary Gideon Du Plessis said there was now no balance of power, only a monopoly for Amcu.
“Amcu is thus being rewarded for its extortion that Lonmin yielded to, and Lonmin will now be held permanently hostage to Amcu’s extortion”
Amcu is arranging a commemoration at the koppie in Wonderkop informal settlement on Friday for 34 miners killed on August 16 last year. On Tuesday, Mathunjwa said he had invited NUM president Senzeni Zokwana to the event.
Lesiba Seshoka, the spokesman of the NUM, said yesterday: “We have not received a formal invitation. Mathunjwa called the president last night [Tuesday]. We’d like to accept the offer, but a number of things [need to be] done properly.”
Meanwhile, national police commissioner General Riah Phiyega said during the launch of the Mining Crime Combating Forum in Rustenburg that union rivalry should not be blamed for violent crime in the mining sector.