Silobela not pleased with mine
"There are farms surrounding this mine and yet the people from the farms are not benefiting from the mine. Instead, whenever they raise their unemployment concerns, they are threatened,"
Mining operations at Msobo Coal between Breyten and Carolina were interrupted when members of Carolina Employment Business and Training (CEBT) brought operations to a standstill recently.
Msobo has been accused of breaching an agreement that exists between the mine and the community.
According to the secretary of CEBT, Ms Fortunate Shongwe, the mine entered into an agreement during a public participation meeting.
“Earlier this year, Msobo Coal introduced itself to the community during the meeting where they promised to employ locals and provide procurement opportunities to local businesses.This has not happened, as Msobo Coal has since contracted the services of Precision Opencast Mining Services (POMS) to mine for them,” explained Ms Shongwe.
This move angered the community, because they say they warned the mine against contracting POMS, as they already have existing issues with the contractor at a different mine in the area where they refused to hire locals.
It is alleged that POMS has a legally binding agreement to give preference to its retrenched employees whenever they are contracted to do any mining work. As a result, more than 60 employees are transported from Middleburg to Carolina daily, which does not sit well with locals.
One of the unemployed young women, Ms Thelma Mayaba, said: “It cannot be correct that the mine allows a contractor to bring its own people even for positions, such as general labour, that do not require any qualification.”
“There are farms surrounding this mine and yet the people from the farms are not benefiting from the mine. Instead, whenever they raise their unemployment concerns, they are threatened,” she said.
Another community member, Mr Banele Dube, said their demands were clear that locals should benefit from these mines, especially in those positions that do not require any specialised skill.
“We do have qualified operators and unemployed people with Grade 12 who are not given an opportunity, because the contractor is bringing its own people,” he said.
The youth is also aggrieved that the mining company does not give opportunities to local business to supply them with articles such as cleaning material.
Ms Fortunate Shongwe added that if the mining companies were serious about helping the community, they would already have trained some of the youth and equipped them with the necessary skills.
In a subsequent meeting between CEBT, the Department of Mineral Resources, Msobo Coal and POMS last Wednesday, it was agreed that 14 people would receive training until December, people living within a 50 km radius would be prioritised, SG-Coal would employ six people and 10 operators would be trained in January as part of the scarce-skills training.
