South Africa: Mandela and Zuma gold mine 'exploiting workers'

It's often said that Blacks treat their own people worse than any other race and the Black South African is no exception. If you're not part of the ANC gang, then you're just another Black voter, who'll of course vote them in election after election, as long as us racist Whites don't ever get back into power. Nothing like cutting off your nose to spite your face and many a nose has been cut off in SA. So, here we have a typical African story of non-success. I've posted before about the grandson of Nelson Mandela, and the nephew of the current SA president, Jacob Zuma, who got their grubby paws on two mines. These mines were supposedly going to make these two scammers rich - instead it made the workers very poor and the ANC rich. The mine workers haven't received their salary for nearly 18 months now, whilst the two owners rush from luxury dinner to luxury fund raiser, getting fatter and fatter. The ANC - champion of the down-trodden - have ignored this hugely embarrassing saga and for good reason. Mr Grandson Mandela gave the ANC R1 million to look-the-other-way and boy have the ANC kinked their necks looking the other way. Nothing like a bit of grease on the palm to ignore those pesky little human rights issues that they love to shove down the White man’s throats. But, Blacks treating their fellow Blacks like scum is no problem for the ANC - after all, they've been doing it ever since the White NP government gifted them the country on a silver platter. Now, mines that were hugely productive have gone to waste - mines that the Whites ran like well-oiled machines - with the best safety records in the world. Yeah, we really hated those Black miners - so much so, that we tried to keep them alive at all costs. Now it seems that the two mines that were supposed to support many a Black miner has been stripped bare and the parts sold as scrap metal - many saying this was done by the owners as a lucrative little side-job. Oh, and did I mention that these mines are now being sold to the Chinese? Yeah - rather sell it to the Chinese - who love the Blacks.....not- than let the South African Whites take it over to make it profitable once again. In case anyone is in any doubt as to my feelings of the Black elitist ANC and their cronies, make no mistake. They are the scum of the earth and many people are going to die or do it tough for years to come because of their rampant corruption and entitlement mentality. As for the Chinese, they just bide their time and pounce when the African Blacks have brain-freezes – which is a frequent occurrence in Africa…

A South African gold mining company owned by members of the Mandela and Zuma families is accused of exploiting its political connections to avoid punishment over its abuse of workers.

The company is also accused of profiting from selling mine assets it does not own - a claim it vehemently denies.

"I'm drowning in debts at the moment, and I don't have any food because I have no income," says Primrose Javu.

"We're living in a very, very bad condition here."

She is standing in the kitchen of her small three-room flat, proud of the furniture, TV and hi-fi she bought herself when she was getting paid for working hundreds of metres underground, in a gold mine.

But she knows it will not be long before the debt collectors come and take it all away.

"They can come to fetch it any time, because I am not getting any salary. This company called Aurora, they just ran away with our pay. We don't get anything."

Ms Javu's employer, Aurora Empowerment Systems, took control of two gold mines just outside of Johannesburg around 18 months ago.

Today, South Africa's mining unions claim the company owes its workers more than 12m rand (£1.1m; $1.8m) in unpaid salaries. Famous families

The managing director of Aurora is Zondwa Gadaffi Mandela, grandson of Nelson Mandela. The chairman is Khulubuse Zuma, nephew of President Jacob Zuma. Another board member, Michael Hulley, is the personal legal advisor to the president.

Despite having no previous experience in the mining industry, a high court-appointed liquidator gave Aurora control of two gold mines after the previous owner went bust. Aurora outbid seasoned mining firms with an offer of 605m rand (£55.5m; $92m).

Since then, the company has been at the centre of huge controversy in South Africa, with critics claiming that the company has committed multiple legal and regulatory infringements, but has escaped any kind of sanction because of the significant political connections of its senior management.

When Aurora took over the gold mines in October 2009, it promised steady jobs, decent housing and education bursaries for the children of its workers.

"All these things, all these beautiful promises - that worried me," reflects Frans Baleni, secretary general of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) - South Africa's largest, most powerful union, and a close political ally of the ruling African National Congress (ANC).

"They started to seriously default on the payment of salaries in December 2009, and in the following year, 2010, for the first three months, they were not paying workers' salaries at all."
The BBC has repeatedly approached Aurora to request an interview with the company's senior management, but they declined to speak or issue a statement.

Food for votes?

Many of the 5,200 mine workers employed at the two mines in Orkney and Grootvlei - to the south-west and east of Johannesburg respectively - have since been living on donations and food parcels provided by the unions.

Mamosa Nonyane was a former surveyor working on the Orkney mine.
"It's very painful to live on charity," she says.

Recently, the ANC also delivered food parcels to the workers at the Orkney mine. Ms Nonyane holds a plastic bag of maize meal, cooking oil and sugar, given to her by the party, but she is cynical about their motives.

"They are not helping us… they just want us to vote for them," she says, referring to the local elections taking place later this month.

It was recently revealed that Aurora's chairman had made a private donation of 1m rand (£91,400, $151,000) to the ANC, when his company is yet to pay outstanding wages to its workers.

The NUM has demanded the money be handed to the destitute miners, but the ANC has refused.

Former mine worker Primrose Javu is furious.

"Khulubuse Zuma gave one million rand to the ANC. For what reason? He gave it to them just to shut [them] up. They must shut their mouths. They mustn't say anything about these conditions," she says.

And indeed the ANC has been silent. Mr Baleni says there is one clear reason for this.

"Because of the names which are associated with this saga, we have got a barrier. The ANC has been very silent on this - not a single word, not a single statement." 'Daylight robbery'

At Aurora's Grootvlei operation there is an open hole in the ground, 400 metres deep, at the mine's Ndlovu shaft.

It is all that is left of what was one of the country's most modern mines, opened in 2008 at a cost of 40m rand (£3.6m; $6m) - a year before Aurora took control of it.

The mine has since been stripped bare and its headgear and machinery sold off for scrap, it is claimed, by Aurora themselves.

"What you see here is the best description of daylight robbery, because Aurora don't actually own the mine," says Gideon du Plessis, deputy general secretary of Solidarity - the union representing mainly white and skilled mine workers.

"It's things you get over the years, and it breaks your heart to do a thing like that, just to get some food on the table."

Mrs Ferreira's husband, Marius, worked at the Grootvlei mine, and like many others, saw his pay packet dry up over a year ago.

The Solidarity union says the company owed Mr Ferreira approximately 170,000 rand (£15,500; $25,600).

"He stressed a lot, and said he couldn't go on any more. And my husband took his life - he's gone."

Tears stream down Mrs Ferreira's cheeks.

"He said he's tired of life and he can't look after me like he did before, and he drank some poison. I didn't ever believe he'd do a thing like that. I was shocked."

Over the past couple of years, Aurora have made repeated public statements declaring a finance deal was 'imminent', and the problems will be resolved, but the money has never materialised.
The latest suggestion is that a Chinese state-owned company, Shandong Mining & Exploration, is to invest $100m (£60.6m) in the two gold mines.

While the mining unions and its members hope that this proposal comes to fruition in order to restore jobs, it will come too late for former miners like Mr Ferreira.

Source