News

Miners starve while crisis deepens

A revolt, which the government can no longer ignore, is brewing at Gupta controlled mines, which also includes, apart from Optimum and Koornfontein mines, Woestalleen, Boschmans, Klipbank and Setemba, where miners were last paid in October 2018.

January 10, 2019

Gerhard Rheeder 3 minutes read

Hundreds of miners and their families face starvation and many have received eviction orders from their rental properties.

Their medical aid funds have been cancelled due to non-payment and pension contributions have also run dry. Cars and other possessions have been repossessed en masse and many affected families were not able to send their children to school on Wednesday.

The miners have not received a cent since the end of October, despite having been forced to travel to work out of their own pockets.

Also read: ‘Gupta’ is a swear word in Middelburg

Optimum has now placed miners in their employment on forced leave, with business rescue practitioners saying they hope that November’s salaries would be paid by the end of February.

Miners are now appealing to the government to intervene in the crisis, while creditors are also slowly coming to the realisation that they may never be paid hundreds of millions owed to them.

Business rescue practitioners want Optimum and Koornfontein mines to be sold to liquid bidders, but all efforts have stalled due to ongoing court battles over the Gupta’s assets.

Business rescue practitioner Louis Klopper says they’ve headed to court no less than 44 times since eight Gupta owned businesses, including Oakbay Holdings and its subsidiary Tegeta Exploration, which owns Optimum and Koornfontein mines, were placed under business rescue.

The situation has become so dire that a team of Komati residents have now pulled together to form the non-profit Feed the Miner Foundation, which operates under the umbrella of Feed a Child.

Also read: GUPTA – ZUMA: Hendrina without water after Optimum fails to pay workers, contractors

Apart from a trust account where financial contributions can be made, Feed the Miner also collects groceries, toiletries and other necessities which are distributed among the needy households.

They’ve already assisted numerous families with food over the festive season but the crisis has deepened to such an extent that Feed the Miner has to go public with their appeals for support.

Miners will again assemble today (Friday) to map a way forward. The general consensus among them is to amp up protest action to bring the mines to a complete standstill.

In a letter addressed to miners on January 4 by Gupta ally Ronica Ragavan, mine management expressed worry over a planned strike to force a shutdown of Koornfontein’s washing plants.
Miners have also threatened to stop slurry sales by any means possible until their salaries have been paid.

Also read: Optimum on lockdown, miners down tools, demand answers from ministries

Miners accuse both the business rescue practitioners and the Gupta lieutenants left behind to tend to Gupta affairs, of channelling money still generated by the mines towards Gupta coffers and not the workers who are expected to keep the mines operational.

Business rescuers have now introduced a new sale plan which has been blocked by Eskom whose board couldn’t convene over December due to its members enjoying their holidays.
Ragavan told miners in the letter that all monies were channelled to Eskom and security detail, without which the mines would generate no income at all.
She, however, made it clear that “there is no money to pay salaries at present”.

Koornfontein can wash 20 000 tonnes of coal, while Optimum can wash and transport 40 000 tonnes of coal to generate income. The income of the washed coal sales will be used to pay salaries only two weeks after sale.

People wishing to contribute towards the Feed the Miner fund can contact Janic van der Merwe, Elzabie Boshoff, Anna Swanepoel or Irma Mostert on 079 850 0344, 073 275 8976, 082 308 2004 or 076 910 4872.

Cash contributions can be paid into Standard Bank, account 10112513725, with reference Feed the Miner.

• For the first time, a miner has come forward, despite fears of reprisals, to tell his story. Read the article elsewhere in today’s Middelburg Observer.