Cape Town – South Africa moved on Tuesday to assure mining executives that the country remains a safe destination for investment in the wake of deadly wildcat strikes, profit plunges and lay-off plans.

“We stand ready to work with all of you to ensure that we build a mining industry that is resurgent, resilient and is able to function successfully to its full realisable potential,” Mining Minister Susan Shabangu told thousands of delegates at the African Mining Indaba conference.

Shabangu’s speech was welcomed by the unrest-weary sector which saw strikes cripple mines last year, but executives present stressed an urgent need for an investor-friendly climate.

“South Africa will only succeed if it fosters an environment that is conducive for business and attractive to international investors,” said Cynthia Carroll, mining giant Anglo American’s outgoing chief executive.

“Creating that environment starts with the need for stable labour relations and the maintenance of law and order,” she said.

More than 50 people were killed last year when production at shuttered mines nose-dived and companies struggled to implement hefty pay hikes.

“Violence and criminality are always unacceptable and they must never be tolerated by society. We must never go back to those days again,” said Carroll.

Anglo American Platinum, the world’s largest platinum producer, on Monday reported a huge operating loss of R6.3-billion for 2012 and the unit was recently slammed over its restructuring plans which could see 14 000 jobs cut and two mines mothballed.

Peter Leon, head of African mining and energy at law firm Webber Wentzel, appreciated the minister’s speech and welcomed South African President Jacob Zuma’s words at the recent World Economic Forum in Davos stressing that South Africa was open for business.

“But of course, what investors want to see now is reality,” said Leon.

“Is government going to not just talk, (but) actually going to walk these issues and deal with them in and effective and substantial way?”

The wage agreement negotiated for Lonmin workers last year has been implemented, Lonmin Platinum said on Tuesday.

“Lonmin honoured the wage agreement of 18 September 2012 and implemented all its provisions in October 2012,” Abey Kgotle, Lonmin’s executive manager for human capital, said in a statement.

“As wages are complex and staff have slightly different packages, we have established a range of mechanisms to engage staff and explain their payslips.”

Kgotle was responding to an open letter to Lonmin by United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa, who said some Lonmin workers had complained that they had not received their full pay rise.

“Mineworkers claim that they are still paid in accordance with the old salary agreement,” Holomisa wrote in the letter.

Lonmin miners reportedly negotiated a 22 percent pay rise last year after labour unrest, which culminated in the shooting of 34 strikers in August.

Holomisa said: “Nearly four months since this agreement was reached, I am inundated with calls from the mineworkers complaining about the fact the 22 percent salary increase is yet to reflect on their payslips.”

Kgotle said the agreement included a signing bonus of R2000 for employees who returned to work, and an average rise of between 11 and 22 percent for employees in the total package of workers in the “category four to nine bargaining unit”.

It also included an increased basic salary, medical, housing and holiday allowances, and an increased contribution to workers’ pension funds. – Sapa

Johannesburg – White beggars in South Africa earn between R50 and R500 a day, the trade union Solidarity said on Tuesday.

A study conducted by Solidarity’s Helping Hand revealed that most beggars would like to work, but do not have the necessary education.

About 78 percent of beggars interviewed said they would like to work and 19 percent said they had not worked before.

The study conducted in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape was of perceptions and the reality of the lives of beggars.

Field workers interviewed beggars in November and December 2012.

Solidarity researcher Nicolien Welthagen said public comments on the union’s Facebook page showed that people believed beggars did not want to work.

“Many people wrote that they had offered beggars work, but that they had not wanted to do demeaning work,” said Welthagen.

“Furthermore, one or two of the beggars who did accept work had quit almost immediately, sometimes within a few days, and had started begging again.”

Almost 60 percent of the beggars had not passed matric.

A small group of 6.6 percent claimed they possessed a diploma and 13 percent said they had some form of a certificate.

Most of the beggars (57 percent) indicated that they were not married. A third (31 percent) were married and 12 percent were divorced. There were also couples (33 percent) who begged together even though they were not married.

Most beggars (83 percent) did not receive an allowance or any assistance from welfare or other organisations.

Sixty-three percent belonged to a church.

About half (51 percent) said they did not have any children, while a third (32 percent) had one child.

Only four percent received a children’s allowance and 94 percent of female beggars with children did not receive any allowance.

Most of the beggars indicated they had been begging for less than a year, while approximately 12 percent had been begging for more than 10 years.

Welthagen said the public believed that beggars were not interested in the work offered to them “because they can earn much more on the streets”.

The research was not intended to provide final answers or solutions to the issue of beggars, but to create more questions which could lead to further research, said Welthagen. – Sapa

By Obakeng Maje

Mmakau-A case of a 41 year-old man who allegedly kidnapped and kills a 11 year-old girl in Mmakau village near Brits was postponed.

Strike Paulos Thulore,41 appeared briefly at Brits Magistrate Court for kidnapping and murdering Ofentse mogale,11 on saturday.

The gruesome incident took place on saturday night when Thulore allegedly entered their neighbour’s house and kidnap a 11 year old girl police said.

“Police were called after Strike Paulos Thulore allegedly forcefully gain entry through the window at neighbour’s house” Captain Adele Myburgh said.

“He allegedly snatched a 11 year-old girl while sleeping in their room with her siblings. The mother of a victim was asleep with her boyfriend in another bedroom” Myburg said.

The parent of a victim realised that she was kidnapped and called the police.

Ofentse Mogale’s body was discovered by police later at her neighbour shack stashed under the bed.

Subsequently the man was arrested and he appeared before magistrate today at Brits Magistrate Court.

“His case has been postponed and he will remains in custody until 12 february 2013 where he will appear for bail applications” captain Adele Myburgh said.

Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), the world’s largest producer of the metal, has to be restructured to make it viable for the future, outgoing Anglo CEO Cynthia Carroll said on Tuesday.

The platinum sector was in crisis, facing enormous economic challenges, she told delegates at the Mining Indaba 2013 in Cape Town.

On Monday, Amplats reported a headline loss of R1.47 billion for 2012, a fall of 141 percent from the year before. It also announced it would not be paying a dividend.

The loss has been attributed to, among other things, the unprotected wage strikes that rocked the company’s mines last year.

Amplats has announced plans to retrench 14,000 workers, but recently postponed these to holds talks with government and labour.

Referring to “government and political parties” as partners, Carroll said a “defining context for the relationship between Anglo American and its partners in the months ahead will clearly be the consultation process in relation to our platinum restructuring proposals”.

While a conference platform was not the place to conduct such consultation, she wished to “make the position clear” on a topic that had attracted so much media coverage.

“The critical starting point is that the boards of Anglo American and Anglo American Platinum are totally committed to ensuring a sustainable platinum business for the future for the benefit of all stakeholders.”

It was a business in which Anglo planned to invest R100 billion over the next decade.

“But to do that we must make the changes necessary to make the business sustainable. We need to recognise and tackle the enormous economic challenges the platinum sector faces. This is an industry in crisis.”

Demand for platinum had dropped, and there was no sign of respite in the near-term future. At the same time, labour, energy costs, and other input costs had continued to rise relentlessly.

“As a result, margins have been squeezed dramatically and the sector has not been earning adequate returns. This is an unsustainable position.

“In the case of Anglo American Platinum, we have to restructure the business to make it viable for the future and in doing so to protect over forty-five thousand jobs.”

The question of how to restructure was one that required consultation with all stakeholders.

“As you know, we have made our proposals public as we are required to do as a listed company.

“We are targeting to create at least as many jobs as the 14,000 that may be affected by the restructuring. And that is on top of a target to re-deploy nine thousand of the employees who may be affected.”

Carroll said Anglo was “totally serious” in its intent to create jobs.

“We will provide high-quality training, as soon as it is needed, to enable employees to benefit from the re-deployment (sic) and new job opportunities we will create.”

She said restructuring was always painful and difficult.

“We value the opportunity to engage with our partners. Over the next sixty days, we will work collaboratively with the department of mineral resources and the trade unions to explore the way forward.

“And after that, the formal Section 189 consultation will resume for the following sixty days.

“In addition, we will continue to be active participants in the MIGDETT [the mining growth, development and employment task team] discussions about the challenges facing the platinum sector as a whole.

“These are all important processes, which we are approaching with good faith and with serious intent,” Carroll said.

– Sapa

By Obakeng Maje

The high police visibility on the N9 highway en -route to Colesberg led to the arrest of a 31-year old man and charged him for illegal possession of abalone in the early hours of morning at about 00:15am police said. 

“The police were patrolling on the high way when they spotted a suspicious looking white Nissan Hardbody bakkie driving haphazardly on the road” Lieutenant Sergio Kock said. 

Subsequent to that the police tried to pull it off the road, however the driver sped off and the chase ensued between the police and the Nissan bakkie. 

“The police managed to pull it off the road after the chase ensued. Upon investigation 58 refusal plastic bags filled with frozen abalone were found stashed in the back of bakkie” Kock adds. 

The estimated value of the abalone is R10 million.

“The suspect will appear tomorrow before the Noupoort Magistrate Court on charges of illegal possession of abalone” police said.

Premier Modise calls for united action to stop violence against children in Mmakau

North West Premier Thandi Modise has condemned in the strongest terms possible the gruesome murder of an 11-year-old girl from Mmakau village outside Brits and called for united action to uproot crime and violence against children in the area.“We commend police for the speedy arrest of the alleged perpetrator. While we understand and share the anger within the community, we appeal for calm and for the matter to be left up to our competent courts for justice to be done, Violence against children in Mmakau has to be stopped,” said Premier Modise.

The Premier welcomed the support from the Provincial Structure of the Progressive Women’s Movement South Africa which also called on the community to join hands to stop crime violence against children in Mmakau.

This is not the first time a girl has been found dead in the area. Ofentse’s friend Neo Ramoso disappeared in November and when her body was found three days later,the skin had been peeled off her face and some pasts of her body were missing.

According to police, the arrested suspect, a 41-year old neighbour had gained entry to the child’s home through a window and snatched Ofentse Mogale as she was sleeping with her younger sibling,9-year-old Neo early on Saturday.The child’s 40-year-old mother, Nkele Mogale was sleeping with her boyfriend in the other room and were woken up by screams from the girl’s sibling. By the time they got outside, the child was already gone. The matter was reported to the police who summoned the dog unit to assist in the search.

The body of the girl identified as Ofentse Mogale was found later that day in a neighbour’s shack, hidden under a bed. She had been strangled. Police were investigating whether the child was raped.

The suspect who is in police custody is expected to appear in the Ga-Rankuwa Magistrate’s Court today, Tuesday to answer to charges of kidnapping and murder.

Cape Town – A Cape Town woman who refused to have sex with her husband for seven years is now suing him for a whopping R1.3 million – because he took a second wife.

In an interview, the husband said that he had been patiently waiting for his wife to fulfil her marital obligation, but claimed she always had an excuse ready for not sleeping with him.

Now the wife, who can’t be named for legal reasons, has left him.

And she wants to sue him for R1.3 million – because he took a second wife.

But the businessman, 30, said his money-grabbing first wife is not entitled to one blue cent – and that he will fight her all the way in the highest courts.

The bitter husband said his first wife, to whom he is still married, has turned their union into a mockery.

“For the first year of our marriage, her excuse was that she was bleeding continuously, she said it was because of the contraceptive she was on,” he said.

“After that her excuse was that she was too tense, or that she simply wasn’t ready, but she kept promising ‘tomorrow night’.

“I told her a man has needs, and what does she tell me? ‘I’m not ready, do what you have to do’.

“Now what do you make of that?”

For more details go to http://www.iol.co.za

Western Cape – Farmers who threaten that the new minimum wage in the sector will lead to job losses will lose their land, Cosatu said on Monday.

The trade union federation was responding to warnings from Agri-SA and Agri Western Cape that the increased minimum wage for farmworkers would lead to “restructuring”, including mechanisation of labour and decreased demand for unskilled labour.

Western Cape Cosatu secretary Tony Ehrenreich said: “The farmers who make these threats must keep on making these threats. The restructuring will happen and part of that restructuring will lead to them losing their land.

“If they can’t use it then they must lose it. They must go somewhere else. But this is a country now that understands that workers are an essential input, that their interests and their best futures must also be taken into account.”

He said the time for “old baasskap attitudes” was over.

By Obakeng Maje

Mmakau-A 41 year-old man is expected to appear briefly at Brits Magistrate Court after he allegedly killed a 11 year-old girl.

Ofentse Mogale,11 was asleep with her siblings when a man who is their neighbour entered the house.

He allegedly gained entry through a window and snatched her.

“It is alleged that a 41 year-old neighbour forcefully gained entry through the window. He allegedly kidnapped Ofentse Mogale” Philani Nkwalase said.

Police were informed and the body of the young girl was found hidden under a bed in a shack.

This gruesome event took place on saturday and the accused will appear before magistrate on murder,kidnapping and possible rape charges today.