JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – New Mineral Resources Minister Advocate Ngoako Ramatlhodi has made a “humble appeal” to all parties involved in the protracted platinum sector strike to agree on a sustainable solution to the impasse at the final Ministry-organised negotiations on Monday.

“Monday will be our last meeting with all parties. I am making a humble appeal to all the parties involved to assist us to move this process forward, as we cannot continue to meet indefinitely. At some point, we must find an implementable solution and we have seen how much the workers are suffering.

“Miners have gone some five months without pay and have, in effect, been reduced to beggars. The situation is untenable,” he told a media briefing on Saturday.

In an effort to resolve the strike, Ramatlhodi last week convened the parties to the dispute – labour union, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) and mining companies Lonmin, Anglo American Platinum and Impala Platinum – to a two-day negotiation session overseen by a technical task team comprising among others, officials from National Treasury, the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR), the Department of Labour and the Department of Health, along with technical teams from AMCU and the mining companies.

The technical team presented a proposal, which both parties agreed to take back to their respective constituencies.

“I would like to, at the outset, convey my sincere appreciation to the leadership of all parties. They have shown commendable dedication and commitment to this task, and I am grateful for the time they have devoted to this matter,” said the Minister.

While ceding that it was not the DMR’s role to intervene in a labour dispute between employers and employees, Ramatlhodi said it had become necessary, as a last resort, for him to step in.

“We have always maintained that the work I have been spearheading does not replace other forums and institutions in place to resolve labour disputes, [but]
South Africa needs a sustainable mining industry, and we place that at risk if we do not resolve this matter once and for all.

“Once we can move beyond this strike, we can free ourselves to focus on other critical issues ailing this industry, one of the most important of which is radical transformation,” he commented.