NATIONAL NEWS - Project Halo won a bid to buy the three mines from Tegeta Exploration and Resources, but have no mining license, says the union.
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said workers at the Gupta-owned Optimum and Kroonfontein mines in Mpumalanga had not been paid their salaries for the past two months, laying the blame on the business rescue practitioners (BRPs) overseeing the operations.
A South African consortium called Project Halo won a bid to buy Optimum Coal Mine, Koornfontein Mine, and Optimum Coal Terminal for R3.05 billion from Tegeta Exploration and Resources, a mining company which is linked to the controversial Gupta family and is under administration.
In a statement, NUM Highveld regional secretary Tshilidzi Mathavha said the mines had taken a questionable stance that “there is no cash flow to sustain the business after their commitment that for as long as there is production, the business can be sustained until the process of rescuing the business is finalised”.
“As we begin 2019, employees will be going for the third month without being paid their salaries as the BRPs gave unlawful instruction that employees should not report to work,” Mathavha said.
“This becomes a burden to workers whom by nature and character survive by selling their labour to their employer. What is of great concern is the fact that BRPs always gave false hope to the union as if the situation was under control, only to find that there is no money.”
