Mining job cuts could kill off business
ON THE third anniversary of the Marikana massacre, informal traders on the Platinum Belt are bracing for the fallout from looming mining job cuts.
More than 40 people were killed in Marikana when a strike by Lonmin mineworkers led to a clash with the police.
Now Lonmin plans to cut 6 000 jobs and Anglo American 53 000. Both have cited rising labour costs, depressed metal prices and an unreliable power supply as reasons for the retrenchments.
The government is trying to negotiate an alternative to the planned job cuts.
Last week, Mineral Resources Minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi suspended a company’s licence to mine coal when it cut 1 000 jobs, then later lifted the suspension.
The job plan comes barely a year after a five-month strike in the platinum sector that damaged the economy and turned Marikana into a virtual ghost town.
During the strike, many shops closed. Those that stayed open did so at a loss after thousands of migrant labourers went home while the rest battled along without income.
Crime soared when compa- nies that supplied the mines also closed.
Last month the Farlam Report on the massacre, commissioned by the president in 2012, released its findings, highlighting the miners’ poor living conditions.
Experts had told the Farlam Commission miners made a desperate push for a basic wage of R12 000 because, among other reasons, many were indebted to loan sharks.
After the protracted strike and the deaths, many mining houses embarked on a financial education campaign to help employees manage their finances better.
Traders who survived the Marikana turmoil said they would have no option now but to close their businesses if the retrenchments went ahead. They said they were still battling to recover.
A snap survey indicated many idle loan outlets.
Patrick Mamoedi, who mans a satellite office of Value Build, which serves as a building supplier and money lender, said business was bad.
Mamoedi said no financial institutions would touch the mineworkers.
According to him, of the 20 mostly mineworkers he would see on a busy day, only one would have a clean record.
He would turn away the rest because they had either defaulted on payments or had stopped paying creditors.
Imran Mian, who runs a cellphone outlet, has still not recovered from the five-month strike and said he feared job cuts at the mines would force him to close his business.
Next door, Imram Ali, who runs a hardware store, said he feared being robbed because people were desperate and had no jobs.
Before the strike last year, he would sell about 10 000 items a week. He has since not been able to sell more than 3 000. JOBURG
A picket outside the Joburg Central Police Station in Commissioner Street, Marshalltown, will be held from 10am to noon.
Miners Shot Down, a documentary directed by Rehad Desai, will be screened at the Sci-Bono Discovery Centre from 9am to 10.30am.
It offers chilling, blow-byblow footage of the days leading up to, and the day of, the Marikana massacre.
Another screening of the documentary will be held at Constitutional Hill (free) at 11am.
From 12.30pm to 2pm, a People’s Assembly will be held, again at the Sci-Bono Discovery Centre in Newtown.
Several prayer services will be held in Mamelodi and Hammanskraal.
The Church of the Nazarene in Mamelodi East, Khalambazo, will hold a prayer service for Marikana.
The Ramotse, Hammanskraal Church of the Nazarene will hold a prayer service, as will the Ga-Rankuwa, Zone 6 (close to Medunsa and Hospital) Church of the Nazarene.
The Itsoteng Women’s Centre in Orange Farm will hold a gathering involving standing in solidarity with the widows and families of those massacred.
At 1pm the community of Diepkloof will stand in solidarity with Marikana – see the website given below, for the address. CAPE TOWN
The progressive Central Methodist Church at Greenmarket Square will hoist a Marikana banner following a 10am service.
The Trinity Methodist Church in Nyanga East will hold a Remembering Marikana service.
The Africa Jam Centre, on the corner of Landsdowne and Spine roads in Khayelitsha, will also hold a remembrance event.
At noon, the UCT Health and Science Faculty will put up a banner, read a statement, and screen Miners Shot Down. DURBAN
Durban City Hall will hold a remembrance ceremony at which all the names of the miners slain on August 16 will be read.
It will be held from noon to 2pm.
From 1 to 4pm, Abantu base Inanda bakhumnula iMarikana (Inanda Commemmorates Marikana) will take place – venue to be confirmed. For details and directions, consult the mobi-site www. amandla. mobi/marikanaday