ANA reports that the Greater Lonmin Community (GLC) has approached the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) seeking leave to appeal and set aside the acquisition of platinum mining company Lonmin Plc by Sibanye-Stillwater.  

The GLC is a not-for-profit organisation representing various affected communities of Rustenburg, such as those at Marikana, Mooinooi, Majakeng, Tornado, Nkaneng, and Bapo ba Mogale.  Sibanye’s offer to acquire the entire issued share capital of Lonmin, subject to certain specific conditions, for around R5.2 billion, became effective on 10 June after 18 months of talks and litigation.  In May, the Competition Appeals Court (CAC) upheld the Competition Tribunal’s decision of 21 November 2018 to approve Sibanye’s offer to acquire Lonmin and thus dismissed an appeal by the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu).  In essence, the GLC wants the court to declare the merger of Sibanye and Lonmin unconstitutional and irregular.  In court papers filed on Thursday, the GLC argued that the Competition Tribunal erred in approving the merger with conditions, without proper investigation of Lonmin’s Social and Labour Plan (SLP), which was in the process of being amended at the time.  The organisation’s argument refers back to the acknowledgement made by the Farlam Commission that Lonmin’s failure to fulfil its obligations in its SLP was a contributing factor that gave rise to the Marikana massacre of 2012.

• Read the full original of the report on the above at The Citizen

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