The Sunday Independent reports that Anglo American Platinum’s Mogalakwena platinum mine in Limpopo says most local residents are unemployable because of illiteracy.

Many young people in Ga-Molekana in Mokopane have complained about unemployment and lack of job opportunities at the mine. They have also alleged that it prefers outsiders to them.

The mine management, however, has denied this, stating that they give first preference to locals. They say local people’s illiteracy levels make it difficult to absorb them.

“Currently, 84% of Mogalakwena staff are locals while our contracting companies have 67% local employee representation. Despite the work being done, the scarcity of requisite skills and illiteracy levels remain a challenge,” spokesperson Mpumi Sithole said.

The mine is in the Mogalakwena Local Municipality.

In a bid to address the unemployment challenges, she said, local communities in 2004 established a labour desk to enable residents to apply for vacant positions at the mine or its contracting companies. Sithole said to date, the process has evolved, working in close collaboration with Mogalakwena mine.

“The labour desk is managed by members of the community from neighbouring villages to ensure transparency in the application process. The CVs that are received through the labour desk are first screened to ensure that applicants are from the local villages. They are then matched to the requirements of the vacant positions.

“Once both of these criteria have been satisfied, the Anglo-American Platinum HR processes are followed, that is interviewing, assessments etc,” she said.

Sithole said that the process has been put in place for the recruitment of locals for both Mogalakwena mine and the mine’s contractors.

She said all entry-level permanent positions are reserved for locals who meet the requirements of the vacant positions.

Sithole added that the mine was working to complement that by continuing to implement a number of skills training and development initiatives through their social and labour plans. “These include Engineering Learnerships (19 locals), Portable Skills (100), Diesel Mechanic (100) and Operator Academy (44),” she said.

Locals, however, tell a different tale. “The mine is not hiring us. We are always applying but we are not getting anywhere,” said Mpho Masingi.

Sello Mashalla echoed the sentiments, adding that people from the North West were recruited while they were available.

“I have been applying for four years but to this day nothing has happened. Permanent jobs are given to people from outside, while the locals that are lucky to be employed are given piece jobs that don’t last long,” he said.

The two are just a few of the youth that flock to the mine on a daily basis with the hope that their luck will change and they will be employed. Many of them are however not so lucky. They complain about being considered only for entry-level jobs and that many of them stand little chance, if any at all, to make it to senior management positions.

“They tell us about the criteria and skills required while they have never done anything for us. We want them to transfer skills. They say they train people but that is actually not the case. They take people to two week training programmes which are useless as when they come back they are still not employed,” said Esrom Masenya, one of the residents who played a role in the establishment of a community business forum.

According to Sithole, the employment equity at the mine is at present at 40% (Historically Disadvantaged South Africans), with 23% women.

“At Mogalakwena Mine four of our senior managers, seven engineers and one female engineer are black people. We currently have junior engineers and mining engineering graduates who have come through the company’s bursary programme in the pipeline.

“Additionally, in the first quarter of 2018, we held a Career Expo targeted at local schools to encourage interest and expose learners to careers within mining.”

Masenya said that does not change the fact that 90% of managers are still white.

With regard to dealing with unemployment, Sithole said, to support growth in mining-related areas, their supply chain department has conducted training of more than 1 200 entrepreneurs in host communities around Mogalakwena mine.

“A total of 38 direct contracts and 16 joint venture partnerships have been awarded to entrepreneurs in the communities around Mogalakwena mine. Creating sustainable communities is a core priority for Anglo-American Platinum and in 2018 alone a R40 million procurement spend has flowed into businesses at Ga-Molekana village.”

The original of this report by Karabo Ngoepe appeared on page 7 of The Sunday Independent of 8 July 2018

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page