exxaroMiningmx reports that Exxaro Resources will continue with the termination of about 750 workers’ contracts employed through Group Five Construction despite an instruction from the firm’s business rescue practitioners (BRPs) that employees should hold their positions.  

Exxaro’s executive head of stakeholder accountability, Mzila Mthenjane, said:  “Our decision remains unchanged.  There has been a contractual breach in terms of the contract.”  The contractors were employed at GG6, a R4.8bn coking coal project at Exxaro’s Grootegeluk mine in Limpopo.  The BRPs, Peter van den Steen and David Lake, ordered last week that the Group Five Construction’s sites “should not be demobilized until there has been engagement from Group Five representatives and that the safety and stability on project sites are our priority”.  Mthenjane said, however, the GG6 project was only six weeks from completion, that a large part of capital outlay had already been sunk by the company and that the Group Five contractors were only working on a small washing plant.  Exxaro said last week that it was “… engaging with its labour support – legal and human resources – to maintain stability on site”.  Group Five’s workers and subcontractors have moved off-site in the meantime.


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