Ba-Phalaborwa makes demands to local mine

Louis Malatji, president of the Ba-Phalaborwa Business and Unemployment Association, has threatened to shut down all mining activities at Palabora Copper if the miner does not reconsider its answer to the demands the association raised on January 24, reports Letaba Herald.

Palabora Copper is a subsidiary of Palabora Mining Company (PMC) Limited.

Malatji said when they decide to go on a full-blown strike, no one would be able to stop them, not even the police.

“We are prepared to die for our rights and the land of our forefathers,” he said. “Minister of Mineral Resources Gwede Mantashe and the president of South Africa will have to come down here when we go on full strike, and we will.”

The association handed a memorandum to PMC outlining its demands. It starts with the insistence for service providers from outside Phalaborwa to subcontract 40% of the contract or project value to local black companies.

Malatji said the mining directors should take them seriously, depart from their “hard-headed-stance” and remove with immediate effect employees Ravin Gareep, Zulu Shikati and Alfred Ramoshaba as he believed they were antitransformation.

Some of the demands are that all the trucks transporting magnetite from Phalaborwa must subcontract 40% of the contract value to local black companies; all cleaning services employees be permanently employed; two association members should form part of the workers’ interview process and that PMC should employ at least one family member from the families of those who perished during last year’s mining accident that claimed six lives.

PMC acknowledged the memorandum: “We note your desire to participate in the business of Palabora Copper. The company has good working relationships with the community through various regulatory structures endorsed by the Ba-Phalaborwa Community Forum (BCF).”

The mine also said the current structure was presented to the company by the community chiefs, mayoral office, provincial government representative and trade unions.

“Working together for the past six years has yielded positive results for the community and the business and has ensured stability of the economic activity in our region,” the mine stated.

It stated the demands listed sought to address issues that were already in the scope of existing structures.

The mine had agreed to have a number of national or international firms helping them in building a new mine to prolong the life of the current mine.

“Some of the work carried out by these entities is of such a technical nature that we need them.”

However, Malatji feels PMC’s response is not good enough. – Caxton News Service