BusinessLive writes that the murky dealings around hundreds of millions of rand that has gone missing from accounts held for royalty payments to the Bapo Ba Mogale community near Rustenburg could be an underlying cause for protests that have brought two Lonmin mines to a standstill.
Unrest at the village of Bapong, which is near the East 2 and East 3 shafts owned by the platinum producer, has culminated in intimidation of Lonmin employees, the burning of buses and a spate of demands from a group claiming to represent the community and unemployed youth. A community member said the Bapong community was angry that R20m a year paid by Lonmin to the Bapong Investment Company in a five-year deal was not reaching them. The latest protest, which started on 2 May, prompted management to meet a delegation to receive a memorandum of demands, which included that Lonmin should provide 1,000 jobs at its mines as well as 500 "cadet placements" for community members. Lonmin, which has just cut 6,000 positions, said the demands were not realistic and could not be acceded to without threatening the sustainability of the business.
- Read this report by Allan Seccombe in full at BusinessLive
- See too, Bapo Ba Mogale community demands 1,500 jobs at Lonmin, at Fin24
- And also, Police intensify efforts in volatile Marikana following days of protest, at EWN
- As well as, Motoriste bang vir Lonmin-betogings, at Netwerk24 (limit on access)
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page