Graham Herbert (right) and Martin Creamer
Photo by: Duane Daws
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The number of mineworkers employed in gold mining and platinum mining in South Africa is expected to decline by about 8% a year in the next two years, says Teba Limited CEO Dr Graham Herbert.
Herbert, who spoke to Mining Weekly Online in the attached video interview, says his company – which is South Africa’s biggest recruiter of mineworkers – is not expecting to do any recruiting for the next year to 18 months.
“We don’t foresee any recruiting for the next year or even year and a half. The total number of mineworkers in platinum and gold is probably going to reduce over the next two years and into the future at about 8% a year,” he said.
While the interview was under way, gold-mining major Harmony Gold announced that it was initiating a Section 189 retrenchment consultation process in an attempt to restore profitability at its 6 300-employee lossmaking Kusasalethu gold mine near Carletonville and precious metals producers are currently bemoaning a worker surplus.
Aggravating labour relations in the precious metals sector currently is a perception doing the rounds that platinum mineworkers have done well out of their five-month strike and that they are now in a sweeter spot than their gold-mining colleagues.
This is creating concern that gold mineworkers may go out on strike next year in an attempt to benefit in the same way as they perceive platinum workers to have benefited from prolonged strike action.
“We certainly hope that there won’t be a gold strike… and that the respective stakeholders will play their roles quicker than they did this year and therefore stave off a strike,” says Herbert.
In the last decade, the numbers of mineworkers recruited from host communities around mines rather than distant provinces like the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal has increased significantly and distance recruiting is diminishing markedly.
Also, less than 30% of South African mineworkers now come from foreign countries compared with double that percentage prior to the change of the Immigration Act in 2003, which prohibited the recruiting of foreign novices and only allowed foreign mineworkers with skills to be taken on.
In addition to recruitment, Teba is also working closely with government on a jobs fund subsidy and with various platinum producers to upskill local communities.
It also provides a number of financial services, sets out to ensure that those who have ceased working are paid the money they are owed by the respective funds and coordinates the social and labour plan development commitments of mining companies.