JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Have the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) and platinum company Lonmin found a strike-averting meeting point?

Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe told AMLive anchor Xolani Gwala, who was hosting an SAfm national radio debate on Friday, that he had been assured that the strike, which AMCU suspended last week, would now not take place at all.

But AMCU treasurer Jimmy Gama's response to Mining Weekly Online later during the weekend was far less sanguine: "No common ground has been reached with Lonmin. The strike is still pending," Gama wrote in a text message.

Government, business and labour, including AMCU, have until June 26 to ratify a draft document that ensures sustainable mining in South Africa.

“AMCU is part of the deliberations and, with regard to the strike notices, certainly I know that, in their dispute with Lonmin, they had discussions in a series of meetings and, at the last check, I was assured that they had found a meeting point and, therefore, there will not be any strike action,” Motlanthe said.

Gwala: In other words, they have told you that there will not be any strike.

Motlanthe: Yes.

Having wrested majority membership from the once-dominant National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), AMCU is now said to have 70% representation among Lonmin’s 28 000 mineworkers.

The draft document, which emerged after the who’s who of South African mining met last Friday, draws attention to the rule of law and peace and stability in the mining sector being indispensible to ensuring economic and social development.

Because of the perceived urgency of restoring industrial peace in the sector, stakeholders, including AMCU, were given until Wednesday to support the draft document.

“Everybody’s on board,” Motlanthe said on national radio, adding that acceptance of the draft document would eliminate the frequent occurrences of acts of intimidation and violence and unprotected strikes.

“In other words, disruptions to the productive arrangements,” he said, adding that the draft precluded wage issues from being raised outside of the so-called collective bargaining season.

He made the point that the separation of migrants from their families for prolonged periods had led to “all manner of social instability, particularly for those living in the informal settlements around the mines” and that the issue of migrant labour would be dealt with in the longer term.

In the meantime, laws were already in place to regulate union activities and stipulate the thresholds of union majoritarianism and recognition.

There should, therefore, not be any union rivalry that went beyond the normal bounds of fair competition.

In response to Gwala’s query of why the law was being flouted in spite of being so clear, Motlanthe said his understanding was that disaffected platinum workers who had left NUM had first formed workers’ committees and then only later joined AMCU.

“That’s why in the early days of the upheaval, it could not have been correct to attach blame to AMCU, because at that point they were not really the union that the workers belonged to. These workers had organised themselves into workers’ committees outside of NUM,” the Deputy President said.

On AMCU not being recognised as the majority union at Lonmin, Motlanthe said he was aware that Lonmin and AMCU had found a meeting point that would avert strike action.

On analysts expressing scepticism about the durability of the latest accord, Motlanthe said: “We have agreed that this is not an event. There are short-term, mid-term and long-term issues to deal with so we’re going to stay in our posts to ensure that implementation is followed to the letter.”

On AMCU’s accusation of Minerals Minister Susan Shabangu and Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant showing bias in favour of NUM, he said: “That’s the very first thing AMCU raised with me when I met with them and I told them that I would go back to my colleagues and sensitise them to the fact that they are Ministers for all South African citizens and that they should not be partisan when they are on public platforms.

“That’s why, if you recall, when President Jacob Zuma was asked that very specific question, he stated emphatically, that as government, we’re neutral in these matters,” he said, pointing out that AMCU had accepted government’s bona fides to the extent that its president had sat next to the Minerals Minister at last Friday’s mining summit in Pretoria.

In the main picture attached to this article, AMCU president Joseph Mathunjwa is seen sharing a light moment with Shabangu at last Friday's meeting.

On allegations of government failing to show decisive leadership, he was unequivocal that the protection of life and property was the responsibility of the State, but added that both labour and mine management were committed, in terms of the draft document, to disallow the brandishing of weapons within mine precincts.

Outside of the work milieu, the government had the full responsibility to ensure that people were not exposed to acts of violence, he said.