2010-02-26

The National Executive Committee (NEC) of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) met over two days on 25/26 February to deliberate on key challenges facing workers and also reflected on the following:

A call for an Alliance meeting on protocol of engagement

Having reflected on the current challenges facing the Tripartite Alliance, the NEC calls for an urgent tripartite alliance meeting that would elaborate on amongst others the protocol of engagement in order to minimize the current volatile situation in which alliance partners hurl insults at each other in public without having properly engaged each other on the issues at hand. The NEC further calls on alliance partners to be sensitive and cautious and not to wash their dirty linen in public as there are fora where issues needs to be ironed out. Policy formulation within the ANC must be cleared to avoid a situation whereby any component of the Alliance can propagate policy positions publicly without exhausting internal processes. In any normal debate, people must up the content of their arguments and not insult and blackmail others to convince them.

On Eskom/Nersa approved electricity tariffs

The NUM calls on Nersa to consider a seven to ten year tariff plan rather than the current three year plan which leads to exorbitant electricity prices. The current rise of 24, 8% will definitely have disastrous economic consequences for the mining sector in particular and the economy in general. The NUM will raise this issue at COSATU level so that Nersa is further engaged on the matter. The NUM will conduct a seminar on energy that would focus on amongst others; energy efficiency, energy mix, demand forecast; integrated resource plan and the impact on climate change.

“We are further opposed to the idea of selling any part of Eskom including Kusile ” says NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni. We are fully aware of the need to fund Eskom built-programs. We therefore call on government to provide the necessary funding and not compromise security of supply.

A call to fill vacancies at Eskom

The NEC further appealed to the electricity parastatal and government to ensure that the two vacancies, that is, the position of Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer at Eskom are filled as a matter of urgency. “You cannot have such an important parastatal without leadership. We call on the shareholder to ensure that the vacuum is filled urgently” says Baleni. Emphasis must fall on the appointment of Historically Disadvantaged onto these two positions.

On Nationalisation

The NUM has a standing resolution on nationalization in terms of altering the economic structure and has been at the forefront in ushering the current policy regime in the country. The issue of nationalization is currently been debated by the NUM branches and will be further debated by the NUM‘s policy conference in May.

On Health and Safety in Mining

The NUM is highly perturbed that the mining industry is celebrating what they call “progress in Health and Safety” whilst it still has a long way to go. In 2008, 171 fatal accidents occurred whilst 164 occurred in 2009. The target was to half fatalities in 2009 and to have zero fatality by 2013. “Thus, we could have reached a target we set ourselves has there been 135 fatalities in 2009, but the industry is currently already in a celebratory mood for failing to achieve the target” says Baleni. We call on our members to continue to observe a day of mourning for every fatality that takes place in the industry.

On the appointment of Tito Mboweni and Siza Mzimela

The NEC welcomed both the appointments of former governor of the Reserve Bank, Tito Mboweni as chairperson of Anglogold Ashanti as well as Siza Mzimela as Chief Executive Officer of South African Airways. Mboweni ‘s appointment marks a shift in transformation terms at Anglogold Ashanti and signifies a significant achievement on the part of the Historically Disadvantaged. The NUM calls on Mboweni to play an important part towards the transformation of Anglogold particularly in relation to representativity at senior levels. The NEC expressed its regret that whilst the mining industry still lags behind in terms of transformation, Impala Platinum saw it fit to replace a black executive in operations with a white one. Out of a population of 83,7 % blacks in the mining industry, 84% in management, 72% in professional positions and 68% in artisan positions remains white.

On Mzimela ‘s appointment, the NEC expressed its confidence in her in turning things around at SAA and congratulated the state for moving the transformation wheels forward particularly due to the fact that parastatals are always dominated by male CEOs and therefore makes government fall behind in terms of gender representativity in those circles.

On Aurora

The NEC is disturbed by the development at Aurora in Orkney and in the East Rand with a possibility at Blyvoor. The DMR must investigate allegations that workers at these operations work underground without the necessary insurance. We call on the liquidators to urgently meet with us before close of business on Monday to look into the state of affairs at these operations.

Construction

The NUM calls on the Local Organising Committee (LOC) to deliver on their promise of “one construction worker, one ticket”. Construction workers played a pivotal role in the deliver of the Wolrd Cup stadia and infrastructure and thus they should not just be dumped in the manner they are being dumped.