Over 800 mine contractors jobless

BURGERSFORT – At least 800 contractors of Capital Development Services (CDS), and their families, face an uncertain future after they received notices on September 8 informing them of their definite and final retrenchment from Twickenham Mine on October 6.

The CDS is a subsidiary of Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) at Twickenham Mine.

These contractors must now face the possibility of unemployment without financial aid, retirement and proper pension funds.

“Anglo American Platinum made a decision to delay all expansionary projects. As a result the Twickenham Project is being demobilised until 2017, in order to better structure the operation to be fit for purpose with a reduced capital footprint.

“The current macroeconomic environment will continue to weigh down on the market fundamentals.

“The company will therefore remain focused on instilling a disciplined attitude towards capital allocation. As a result, it has given contractors notice of a reduction in contract requirements.

“Conventional mining will continue at Hackney Shaft, while Twickenham Shaft will be put on care and maintenance. By continuing mining operations at Hackney Shaft 1 300 jobs will be retained, of which more than 70 per cent are filled by members of the local communities. The delay of the Twickenham Project and reconfiguring of the operation will not affect the mine’s social and labour plan or its training and enterprise-development initiatives in the local communities,” said Ms Mpumi Sithole, Amplats’ media manager.

CDS contractors are mainly managed by SAN Contracting Services in Rustenburg which supplies labour on various sites to major mining houses including Amplats.

In a telephonic interview Steelburger/Lydenburg News spoke to Mr Frans Burger, media correspondent at SAN Contracting Services.

“When our contract agreements end on the mines, there is nothing we can implement to change that.

“The mines are in control regarding the mining contracts they issue, including the termination dates.

The contractors are aware of the fact that they are not permanently employed and when the mining contract ends, so does their employment at the specific mine.

“Meetings are taking place with the mining unions to see what alternatives can be implemented to assist the retrenched contractors, but nothing is finalised.

“We will assist them in regard with transfers to other mining companies, but if there are no positions available, then there is nothing we can do.

“As a company we are also losing income due to the fact that the contract has been terminated at Twickenham Mine. The contractors were aware that their employment would not be permanent,” concluded Burger.

The letter that CDS contractors received from SAN Contracting Services regarding the retrenchment stated that the demand for platinum group metals had not improved and, in an environment of weak commodity prices, the cost of production increased substantially above inflation in mining.

Therefore, the current financial position of the company did not allow them to continue with the Twickenham CDS operations as envisaged.

According to the letter no final decisions had yet been made regarding the implementation of the retrenchments, but the contractors affected stated that they knew the decision was already final.

One CDS contractor told the newspaper that his wife was diagnosed with cancer last month. “She also broke her hip and was admitted to Polokwane Private Hospital for further treatment. As a CDS contractor we are using the Platinum Health Medical Scheme.

“She will also start with chemotherapy to stop the cancer from spreading. I received my retrenchment letter on September 9. How will I pay for her medical costs if I am no longer employed, or if my medical aid is cut off? The company never prepared us for the retrenchment process. I am seriously facing a big problem if I do not find new employment soon.”

Another retrenched contractor said they would lose their houses as well. CDS provided housing for the contractors and with the retrenchment most of them must move out of the mine houses. “We cannot afford rent if we do not have an income. We will receive a pension fund after three months of the contract termination on October 6 that will pay one week’s income per month; depending on the number of years or months you were employed. If I was contracted for a year at Twickenham Mine I will receive 12 weeks’ income as pension fund. My wife uses chronic medication that we used to receive from the medical aid, now that I am retrenched we will no longer receive it and our income is limited. At this moment I am praying and hoping things will turn out for the better.”

According to the retrenchment letter from SAN, the company intended to offer them severance pay as agreed with NUM, stipulating two weeks’ severance pay for every completed, uninterrupted year of service, one ex-gratia payment of R5 000 per employee and notice as per the Basic Conditions of Employment Act.

The employees also added that the CDS requested their CVs so that SAN could find alternatives or relocations to other operational sites, but the employees didn’t have much hope and faith regarding this process. They concluded that SAN Contracting Services did not even construct the retrenchment letters with empathy. “The letter is a simple printout made towards anyone where they only write your name, surname and company number and the SAN management signature at the bottom is not even the original one.

This proves to us that they do not show much remorse. We now face the challenge of finding new job opportunities before we find ourselves in a financial crisis.”