Mining Weekly reports that the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) on Wednesday said it was “deeply concerned” that its members and contractors at Koornfontein Colliery, in Mpumalanga, have not received their salaries since November 2018.  

NUM Highveld regional secretary Tshilidzi Mathavha advised that the business rescue practitioners (BRPs) for the mine had paid Optimum employees after the sale of some equipment, following which the union had been informed that the Optimum and Koornfontein operations were detached from one another.  This was despite both Optimum and Koornfontein having been placed under business rescue as part of the Gupta-owned Tegeta mines.  The union further alleged that the BRPs then continued to pay one month’s salary to Optimum employees, despite an objection from the NUM that it would bring about division among employees of the two mines.  "The NUM’s position was clear that BRPs should mobilise enough resources to accommodate all employees before any payment could be made,” Mathavha observed.  He went on to indicate that Koornfontein employees were now calling for Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe to intervene and resolve the challenges and problems that were facing workers at the mine.

• Read the full original of the report on this story at Mining Weekly
• Read the NUM’s press statement on this matter at Cosatu News

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