Diamonds aren’t forever – not in SA

It was announced that DeBeers, the South African Company that dominated the global Diamond Market for yonks has decided to throw in the towel as far as South Africa is concerned and it was no surprise that they sold their second biggest and one of only two diamond mines remaining in South Africa.

The decision to sell Finsch Mine was an easy one. De Beers, years ago decided to get out of the country. Mining, because of labour (COSATU) and government (ANC) became too expensive and the margins to thin. The risks of tenure and other regulatory uncertainties curtailed exploration and the decision was made to sweat the assets and get out leading to the mass sell-off of mines. The Kimberley mines were the first to go with the BEE-company taking them over, KCM – loosely connected to the Zuma clan – recently suspended from the JSE. The Cullinan mine was taken over by Petra and are barely surviving – albeit at a much smaller scale with considerably fewer people than before – thanks to the find of a typically massive and “lucky” gem; luck that cannot continue for much longer.

Finch Mine does not have the luxury of huge and lucky gems. The mine depends on the mass production of cheap industrial diamonds and small low value gems. Petra no doubt will reduce the size of the mine and scavenge dumps and easily accessible ore of which there is little left. Going deeper will require huge investment, investment DeBeers baulked at for good reasons.

The sad thing is that in 2005/6 Finsch Diamond Mine became one of the most technologically advanced hard rock underground mines in the world; a true pioneer. The technology employed at Finsch was critical in ensuring the viability of sustainable continuing operations.

Because of the South African skills shortage it became increasingly difficult to support the advanced mining technology at Finsch mine and future investments in this technology became just too risky given the deviancy of the Department of Minerals. In the end the selling price of Finsch Mine of $200 million hardly equates to the cost of the Mine Automation Project.

Sadly many of the excellent engineers developed in this process have left South Africa. They work abroad for DeBeers and for the companies involved with DeBeers in the development of the technology.

With Finsch gone, Venetia Mine remains the last Bastion of the erstwhile DeBeers South African Empire, in South Africa – an empire destroyed by transformation. The mine will be retained by DeBeers until the easy resources are exhausted, the assets have been sweated properly upon which it will be flung aside to be used by unscrupulous BEE companies, like KCM, to fleece unsuspecting investors.

Resources are not inexhaustible and for that they must be recovered effectively and investments must be made in finding new resources. In South Africa this cannot be done because of inflated labour costs, ineffective training and education, a government threatening ownership, a ruling party prepared to steal mineral rights for the benefit of a select few in the top party echelons.

The Great South African Mining Disaster

Nic Holland, upon taking over at the helm at Goldfields, vowed to close down working places considered a safety risk. Being a man of his word and having the integrity of an old-style accountant he carefully assessed the risks and duly started shutting down workings considered to risky. Having not done the “Mining Math” properly in the first place, he found, perhaps too late, that he will eventually have risk free operations. That was however not the only reality that dawned upon him – he also found no risk means no gold and after all, that is what Goldfields is all about – mining gold. With every risky place they stopped the gold output fell inexplicably; A difficult concept? Not really. Most call it common sense. As the saying goes; you do not make scrambled eggs without breaking a few eggs.

Nic Holland was not the only one trying to get rid of the “risky” operations. Anglo American’s Cynthia Carroll went a bit further and sold all of AngloGold Ashanti, getting rid of a whole whack of dangerous operations in one foul swoop. She went further and then publicly claimed a massive reduction in mining related fatalities at Anglo – a novel variation on the concept of selling your problems to the uninformed – in this case selling your deaths, sweetened with a splattering of gold to the unsuspecting foreigners. Fortunately in this case the foreigners got a bit more than a smattering of gold with the Africa operations that came with the South African assets. My reckoning; if Julius and friends succeed in nationalising the South African mines with compensation the foreigners can get rid of the South African poison pill – the deal of a lifetime.

As this drama continues to unfold, South African mining production continues to fall sharply. At a time when the gold price is at its most favourable in decades, South African gold production has reached an all time low of 232 tonnes, less than half the 490 tonnes produced in 1985 and falling ever faster. Ironically, as the gold production from South Africa was dragged down by labour issues, government regulation and risk aversion, output from the rest of the world, particularly the rest of Africa and China rose sharply.

Looking at the latest round of reporting by mining companies, it is particularly noticeable how many companies reported a great number of production days lost due to safety issues a new inclusion in their reports. As in the case of Goldfields, the South African mining industry will come to the realisation that the easiest way to ensure no risk is to shut the mines down.

With the loss of 15 000 jobs in the mining industry in 2009, a year when resource prices were showing a recovery  from the global recession with the gold price reaching an all time high, South African mineral production continued to fall.   

Having said that, it is particularly noticeable how the cause of accidents and the reasons for Section 54’s, Mine closure orders, are glibly attributed to the owners and management. When an incompetent and reckless miner, holding a certificate issued under the auspices of the relative government department, blows himself and his colleagues up by smoking in an area which he has tested as being laden with methane, management is blamed, the mine is closed down and the bad and twisted – by the Union and the Department of mineral Resources – publicity, loss in production and subsequent revenue loss accrues to shareholder.

No wonder Patrice Motsepe is so keen to give his mines to Julius Inc., compliments the South African taxpayer. He learned from Cynthia Carroll.

A Travesty and a Fairy Tale in One

And so the wheel eventually turns, or perhaps I should say; “As the stomach turns”

 It feels like yesterday when NUM members took hostages at the Two Rivers Mine in an attempt to reinforce their noble attempts at transforming the mining industry. The action by NUM at the time was not surprising, after all, one could say they invented and perfected the art of underground hostage taking. As a matter of fact, I am surprised that they, like the taxi drivers in the case of taxi routes, do not claim intellectual property rights.

Be it as it may, a rival union, on the self same Two Rivers Mine, has now had the audacity to infringe on the irrevocable and sole right – bestowed on NUM by the leaders they proudly spawned, Mantashe and Mothlanthe – to take hostages on mines.

To make matters worse and more insulting, the hostages taken are NUM members, more likely than not, the same people responsible for the previous hostage drama at Two Rivers. No wonder then the exasperation of NUM officials condemning this travesty of justice.

I could not help thinking about an hostage taking event not so long ago which has subsequently become the stuff legends are made off. The legend goes;

The Emperor and the Miners

Once upon a time at a Platinum Mine – in the far west of a country, well known for its dancing emperor and Clown Prince, the ruler saving money by multitasking the prince to fulfil the role of court jester and stand-up comedian – the workers, having been told, by the emperor that they were special and feeling they were entitled to all the riches of the platinum mine, an idea mooted by the Clown Prince, decided to cease work until their wages were higher than in any other place in the world.

The workers, quite rightly, believed they were solely responsible for bringing the ruler to power and anyway, he did promise them wealth and comfort beyond their wildest dreams should they carry him to power. The workers fought hard and dirty and got the emperor to power and this was payback time.

Much to the shock and surprise of the workers, now refusing to work in support of their demand for their promised rewards, the evil Mine Boss dismissed them, banished them from the mine banishing them to a life of hardship, a life without DSTV and washing machines. The Evil One brought in other workers; workers who promptly and without hesitation took over the meaningless jobs with great proficiency. Imagine the confusion, humiliation and surprise of the Banished, having been chased away like worthless dogs, witnessing the cockroaches that have been begging for jobs day-in and day-out at the mine gates, taking the jobs that rightly belonged to them, the members of the guild of miners, who swept the Emperor to power.

They were understandably upset and appealed to their guild and the Clown Prince and the Emperor to assist them with reinstatement but to no avail, because friends of the Emperor were also friends of the Evil One. When they saw there was no deliverance from the fate delivered upon them, they slinked back to their houses. There they lay about, drank beer frolicked with their wives, when mentioned wives returned from the fields, where they were trying to eke out a living.  However during lonely moments they, the Banished got together and counted there remaining and fast dwindling cash resources with great concern.

And so it came to pass. Whilst they were sitting around drinking beer and bemoaning their financial woes, having realised the money promised by the Emperor for the unemployed was barely enough to buy food, a scary short little man of demonic appearance arrived, as if out of nowhere, in their midst. This little man of much power declared himself to them as the Tokoloshe – master of malevolence

The Tokoloshe, having listened to doleful lamentations, presented them with a plan so evil, it almost froze the blood in the veins of the bravest warriors amongst them, one of them, Funa Pumile, so-called because of his urge to rest often, afterwards swore the HIV viruses in his body instantly died. The Tokoloshe as is his want, did not only give them a plan, his servant, dressed in a splendid blue uniform, not dissimilar to that worn by the Emperors Police, gave them short sticks that fired very small arrows at great force and velocity. One of the banished workers fired a test arrow at the wall of his hut to find his recently born baby as dead as a dodo. Strong muti indeed.

The Tokoloshe also had his personal witchdoctor at hand and he promptly supplied the banished workers with a potion, made from wondrous herbs blended with body parts of the now dead baby using a machine – borrowed from a workers kitchen, they haven’t reached the pawning phase of hardship yet – blessed by Russel Hobbs himself, to give them immense strength and make them impervious to the weapons of their enemies.

After drinking their potion, mixed with copious amounts of alcohol, and smoking lots of magical herbs the banished and rejected workers proceeded to the mine with sticks, dancing and singing, jubilant in the knowledge that they will regain their positions, and more. After all, did the Clown Prince not ask for the seizure of mines by the people? Did the emperor’s councillor on gold, gems and fabulous mineral wealth, not threaten the evil mine owners to fit-in-or-fuck-off? They marched with the knowledge that, as in the past, their ruler expects them to act strongly and take, with necessary force and commensurate trashing, what is rightfully theirs.

Soon after they arrived at the mine, whilst they were singing and dancing, summoning the great spirit of the Machine Gun and focussing their minds, now slightly befuddled by a haze of intoxicating herbs, a few rotund policemen, not dissimilar in appearance to Mr. Plod, good friend of Noddy, arrived and prevented them from approaching the Evil One where he was sitting in his sumptuous office sipping coffee and counting his fortune.

Having recognised friends and allies amongst the police and not wanting to hurt friends, they used tactics taught by the Tokoloshe and some of the Emperor’s advisers many years ago and staged a fake retreat. The police, not seeing any killing opportunities, promptly withdrew, signalling the opportunity for the banished workers to attack and breach the defences.  

And children, that is what they did.

They broke through the barriers of steel and concrete and proceeded underground. There they secured an area and promptly proceeded to, using the skills passed on by guild leaders and Emperor’s advisors, construct pipe bombs using pipes and explosives liberated underground. They secured a comfortable area, not to cold and not to warm, a suitable sleeping place, for those that do not have watch or bomb making duty, where they could dig in so to speak.

Once they secured their control centre they did what they do best underground; they promptly went to sleep, all of them except one, a man by the name of Katalile Minadagiwa, who, due to his inability to participate in logical debate and being a fan of the Clown Prince, having studied every speech ever made by the crown prince, was chosen to negotiate with the Evil Owner.

In the meantime, the police were called back and arrived with the police’s newly trained special forces, flown in by special jet, in tow. Whilst the suitably obese police commissioner shouted instructions, Katalile spoke to The Evil One on the telephone, demanding the presence of the ruler, the Clown Prince or the big cheese of the guild. 

Whilst this hullabaloo was carrying on the task force proceeded underground armed with rifles, grenades flame throwers and all manners of violence perpetrating equipment, to back up their newly acquired licences to kill, proudly displayed on cards contained in a little pouches hanging around there necks. Positively professional, reminding somewhat of the ID tags of conference-delegates, all very smart.

Yes children; they were ready and well prepared to marinate, tenderise and roast their adversaries. The scene was set for an epic battle. A fight to death – a battle for the hart and soul of the economy.

The first bomb was set off by the rebel miners, a policeman was pole axed by shrapnel from the pipe bomb and all hell broke loose. After the lapse of a suitably long period of time to justify the description of ‘epic battle’, surpassing in length and intensity of the well publicised turf wars of the Zama-zamas having produced a sufficient number of wounded on both sides, the begrudged miners were subdued and hauled away to be drawn and quartered by the Emperor’s men, at the behest of the Evil One, who, it was learned, made a sizeable contribution to the “Welfare of the Emperor” fund.

The mine owner subsequently liberated his money and moved it to a far of land with an honest Emperor and peaceful hard working people. There he started a new mine and became immensely rich.

The Clown Prince became bloated and fat, and his head – like a black hole, dark, empty and dense – imploded and he became rather pleasant blabbering incoherently day in and day out in the process, driving the Emperor insane, prompting him to embark on a crusade against fair-weather friends.

The mines in the once great land quietly died and the workers returned to the land where they tried to eke out a living and eventually succumbed to famine and pestilence.

Ed. What a load of non-sense. You certainly have a wild imagination

The Emperor and the Miners

Once upon a time at a Platinum Mine – in the far west of a country, well known for its dancing emperor and Clown Prince, the ruler saving money by multitasking the prince to fulfil the role of court jester and stand-up comedian – the workers, having been told, by the emperor that they were special and feeling they were entitled to all the riches of the platinum mine, an idea mooted by the Clown Prince, decided to cease work until their wages were higher than in any other place in the world.

The workers, quite rightly, believed they were solely responsible for bringing the ruler to power and anyway, he did promise them wealth and comfort beyond their wildest dreams should they carry him to power. The workers fought hard and dirty and got the emperor to power and this was payback time.

Much to the shock and surprise of the workers, now refusing to work in support of their demand for their promised rewards, the evil Mine Boss dismissed them, banished them from the mine asigning them to a life of hardship, a life without DSTV and washing machines. The Evil One brought in other workers; workers who promptly and without hesitation took over the meaningless jobs with great proficiency. Imagine the confusion, humiliation and surprise of the Banished, having been chased away like worthless dogs, witnessing the cockroaches that have been begging for jobs day-in and day-out at the mine gates, taking the jobs that rightly belonged to them, the members of the guild of miners, who swept the Emperor to power.

They were understandably upset and appealed to their guild and the Clown Prince and the Emperor to assist them with reinstatement but to no avail, because friends of the Emperor were also friends of the Evil One. When they saw there was no deliverance from the fate delivered upon them, they slinked back to their houses. There they lay about, drank beer frolicked with their wives, when mentioned wives returned from the fields, where they were trying to eke out a living.  However during lonely moments they, the Banished got together and counted there remaining and fast dwindling cash resources with great concern.

And so it came to pass. Whilst they were sitting around drinking beer and bemoaning their financial woes, having realised the money promised by the Emperor for the unemployed was barely enough to buy food, a scary short little man of demonic appearance arrived, as if out of nowhere, in their midst. This little man of much power declared himself to them as the Tokoloshe – master of malevolence

The Tokoloshe, having listened to doleful lamentations, presented them with a plan so evil, it almost froze the blood in the veins of the bravest warriors amongst them, one of them, Funa Pumile, so-called because of his urge to rest often, afterwards swore the HIV viruses in his body instantly died. The Tokoloshe as is his want, did not only give them a plan, his servant, dressed in a splendid blue uniform, not dissimilar to that worn by the Emperors Police, gave them short sticks that fired very small arrows at great force and velocity. One of the banished workers fired a test arrow at the wall of his hut to find his recently born baby as dead as a dodo. Strong muti indeed.

The Tokoloshe also had his personal witchdoctor at hand and he promptly supplied the banished workers with a potion, made from wondrous herbs blended with body parts of the now dead baby using a machine – borrowed from a workers kitchen, they haven’t reached the pawning phase of hardship yet – blessed by Russel Hobbs himself, to give them immense strength and make them impervious to the weapons of their enemies.

After drinking their potion, mixed with copious amounts of alcohol, and smoking lots of magical herbs the banished and rejected workers proceeded to the mine with sticks, dancing and singing, jubilant in the knowledge that they will regain their positions, and more. After all, did the Clown Prince not ask for the seizure of mines by the people? Did the emperor’s councillor on gold, gems and fabulous mineral wealth, not threaten the evil mine owners to fit-in-or-fuck-off? They marched with the knowledge that, as in the past, their ruler expects them to act strongly and take, with necessary force and commensurate trashing, what is rightfully theirs.

Soon after they arrived at the mine, whilst they were singing and dancing, summoning the great spirit of the Machine Gun and focussing their minds, now slightly befuddled by a haze of intoxicating herbs, a few rotund policemen, not dissimilar in appearance to Mr. Plod, good friend of Noddy, arrived and prevented them from approaching the Evil One where he was sitting in his sumptuous office sipping coffee and counting his fortune.

Having recognised friends and allies amongst the police and not wanting to hurt friends, they used tactics taught by the Tokoloshe and some of the Emperor’s advisers many years ago and staged a fake retreat. The police, not seeing any killing opportunities, promptly withdrew, signalling the opportunity for the banished workers to attack and breach the defences.  

And children, that is what they did.

They broke through the barriers of steel and concrete and proceeded underground. There they secured an area and promptly proceeded to, using the skills passed on by guild leaders and Emperor’s advisors, construct pipe bombs using pipes and explosives liberated underground. They secured a comfortable area, not to cold and not to warm, a suitable sleeping place, for those that do not have watch or bomb making duty, where they could dig in so to speak.

Once they secured their control centre they did what they do best underground; they promptly went to sleep, all of them except one, a man by the name of Katalile Minadagiwa, who, due to his inability to participate in logical debate and being a fan of the Clown Prince, having studied every speech ever made by the crown prince, was chosen to negotiate with the Evil Owner.

In the meantime, the police were called back and arrived with the police’s newly trained special forces, flown in by special jet, in tow. Whilst the suitably obese police commissioner shouted instructions, Katalile spoke to The Evil One on the telephone, demanding the presence of the ruler, the Clown Prince or the big cheese of the guild. 

Whilst this hullabaloo was carrying on the task force proceeded underground armed with rifles, grenades flame throwers and all manners of violence perpetrating equipment, to back up their newly acquired licences to kill, proudly displayed on cards contained in a little pouches hanging around there necks. Positively professional, reminding somewhat of the ID tags of conference-delegates, all very smart.

Yes children; they were ready and well prepared to marinate, tenderise and roast their adversaries. The scene was set for an epic battle. A fight to death – a battle for the hart and soul of the economy.

The first bomb was set off by the rebel miners, a policeman was pole axed by shrapnel from the pipe bomb and all hell broke loose. After the lapse of a suitably long period of time to justify the description of ‘epic battle’, surpassing in length and intensity of the well publicised turf wars of the Zama-zamas having produced a sufficient number of wounded on both sides, the begrudged miners were subdued and hauled away to be drawn and quartered by the Emperor’s men, at the behest of the Evil One, who, it was learned, made a sizeable contribution to the “Welfare of the Emperor” fund.

The mine owner subsequently liberated his money and moved it to a far of land with an honest Emperor and peaceful hard working people. There he started a new mine and became immensely rich.

The Clown Prince became bloated and fat, and his head – like a black hole, dark, empty and dense – imploded and he became rather pleasant blabbering incoherently day in and day out in the process, driving the Emperor insane, prompting him to embark on a crusade against fair-weather friends.

The mines in the once great land quietly died and the workers returned to the land where they tried to eke out a living and eventually succumbed to famine and pestilence.

Ed. What a load of non-sense. You certainly have a wild imagination

Marijuana Mine for South Africa

With mining production continuing to decline, it is very inspiring to see their is hope for the industry.  

I was privy to some correspondence mooting a new project that can save out mines. The following letter sets out a very feasible plan in my opinion. Thank heavens for entrepreneurs.

Brent Zetti,

Chief Executive Officer

Prairie Plant Systems Inc.
#1 Plant Technology Road
Box 19A – RR#5
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7K 3J8

Dear Sir

Marijuana Mining Facility 

The only connection between mining and the smoking of marijuana in South Africa, is the smoking of pot by mineworkers. Where they will insist they smoke it for cultural and traditional reasons, union leaders, expediently so, insist they smoke it to numb their senses, enabling them to face the hazardous conditions in which they are required work whilst relieving the monotony of their meaningless jobs.

The article about the threat to your operations touched me for a number of reasons, guilt being one of them. South Africans, especially those of lighter hue, you must understand, are very susceptible to guilt trips. Because of this, I could not help getting involved in a program to salvage job opportunities in a contracting mineral resource industry. 

My program is aimed at creating opportunities for retrenched and unemployed miners, robbed of opportunities by treacherous capitalists disinvesting because of prohibitive legislation and greedy and confused unions. The result; mining is driven back to, traditionally expensive countries, like Canada, a shift causing the dilemma you find yourself in. As I understand it, you are forced to close down your operations because mineral production is encroaching on your operations. 

I believe it will be possible and very lucrative to move your marijuana mining from Canada to South Africa. This may pose some challenges, but as we know, every threat brings opportunity. The biggest challenge will be safety, a big issue in South African mines. It seems that for some obscure reason, deaths in mines are, unlike murder and road deaths at the hands of taxi drivers, totally taboo. 

The safety risk to marijuana miners in South Africa however, pales in insignificance to the immense risk faced by an Inuit, trudging across the icy tundra, mile after mile, with heavy sacks of pot strapped to his back, only to die in his desperate attempt to get his valuable cargo to the nearest ice road. Mining dagga will also be safer than harvesting the it from plantations in the remote valleys of KZN, where the harvesters have to dodge police gun-ships, fitted with Browning machine guns and flame throwers and police on horse back carrying licenses to kill issued by The President in person. 

This is where I see the opportunity. By turning huge worked out areas into marijuana producing operations we can keep mineral production areas more sustainable. Providing free “medicinal” dope to the workers, we can break the power of the unions thus restoring profitability. 

Mine managers, realising the positive and strong effect dagga had on workers have been lobbying for ages to get the use of pot legalised, not only because of its performance enhancing properties but also its mind-expanding qualities. It is amazing how clever an uneducated person becomes after a single zol, no wonder it is often referred to as the “Tree-of-wisdom”. 

An added advantage is the calming effect it has on users. You can only imagine how easy mining will be if miners were walking around underground wearing “peace signs”, Rasta hairdos and ill-fitting hard hats, instead of calling for death and destruction of racist and murdering mine bosses. Sorry I’m digressing. 

With the attitude of our new Minister of Mines, keen to promote the nationalisation ideas of our designated future president, who coincidentally, started his campaign for mine nationalisation at about the same time as your woes were reported, we will have to move fast. I honestly believe the young man, from appearance and the things he say, is obviously a serious participant in the pleasures afforded by the magical herb. I say this with conviction, his behaviour, to my expert eye, seems to indicate a state of almost constant intoxication. 

Given the situation I outlined, I am certain you agree, we cannot allow a quality resource such as yours to be destroyed by ruthless miners in Canada who will always put profit ahead of pleasure and wellness, nor can we allow a bunch of pothead Marxists to control the world’s Marijuana supply. I can only imagine the consternation of pot smokers, recreational or otherwise, the world over at the news of the imminent closure of your Marijuana mine and the threat of their stash in the hands of drug-crazed ideologists. 

I believe with the fragile state of mining in South Africa we can secure enough closed down mines to move your operations to these shores. By giving the current President, the future president and the minister of mines a cut of about 30% in the company, we can secure their support and kill the nationalisation idea, simultaneously creating the prospect of attaining lucrative stakes in viable mines in exchange for protection against state interference. 

I trust you will give my idea serious consideration. 

Yours Faithfully

Jorik Dumfries

http://www.prairieplant.com/

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE56L6Z320090722

A One-Eyed View

If I was a Deputy President in any organisation remotely associated with the ANC Alliance, I’ll be afraid, very afraid, as the saying goes. First, Petrus Mothlanthe, Deputy President of South Africa and the ANC, has a dicey experience during a scheduled landing in Bangui, en-route from Libya. What was he flying in that couldn’t manage a non-stop flight? A single prop micro-light, fitted with a second-hand lawnmower engine? I suppose we must be grateful for small mercies. Didn’t his predecessor, the fat lady with the funny name, charter a Gulfstream to fly to Dubai to watch the “Dances of Cranes”?

Mothlanthe’s reported “mishap” resulted in the arrest of the air-traffic controller in Bangui. Makes you wonder. Could the controller be a Zimbabwean with close ties to Robert Mugabe? Could Mbeki be calling in favours?

The most astounding event however, remains the unfortunate and unplanned removal of the NUM Deputy President’s eye by striking NUM members. The botched operation, which was somehow kept out of the media for more than 24 hours, was apparently, like many botched circumcisions, performed by an unqualified witchdoctor. In this case, a Xhosa rock drill operator who was kicked out of Witchdoctor School after three failed attempts at the anatomy exam. A lecturer, wishing to remain anonymous for obvious reasons, said the man could not tell his backside from his elbow. Despite his inability to pass, the examination authority continued attempts to close the knowledge gap—that is the gap between the student’s knowledge and the examination standards—a process, uniquely South African and commonly known as “dumbing down”. Apparently, training authorities reached the end of their tether when the candidate failed to hand in a clean sheet of paper in his final chemistry exam.

The unfortunate aspirant witchdoctor, Doktela Coldset Uthuli, found a job on the mines but never abandoned his dream of becoming a doctor. It is here where he stole some stone-age cutting tools and other “magical” artifacts, from a display cabinet in the Geology Department, which he used in the operation on poor Piet’s eye. In the meantime Piet told associates he now has a different view of the world, a lot less complicated with fewer dimensions…a lat earth view so to speak.

To crown an eventful week , the Deputy President of the South African National Taxi Council, said to be instrumental in the MOU signed on Friday, was murdered. The Piccanin President, Juliaas, was quick to ride the BTI in honour of the fallen hero, and great ANC hope in deliberations aimed at solving Taxi/BRT fracas.

Patrick Craven, having seen the violence and mayhem, expressed his dismay at the violence perpetrated, an un-expected reaction in itself, coming from a leader who, in the past, was unable to find any indication of violent tendencies amongst COSATU members. It may just be possible that there are some unhappy people lurking around, expressing their displeasure in the only way they learnt during the struggle, and, as prominent leaders of the Alliance often reminds us, “The struggle continues, the revolution is alive and so is its methods”.

Zuma – A Miracle of Our Time

http://www.news24.com/Content/MyNews24/Letters/1050/725409ae1fae400d8ea3643f3eb9597e/14-09-2009-11-57/A_mracle_of_our_time 

I cannot help marveling at the brilliance of our President. Those mocking his lack of education must be choking on their words. There we had it again this weekend when he displayed his brilliance when it comes to insight and logical deduction. I am off course referring to his profound statement that South Africa will be taken over should the soldiers strike whilst we are being invaded. Now who, but a genius, could have foreseen the grave risk with such clarity. It never occurred to us mere mortals that striking soldiers could threaten our democracy, risk our sovereignty and expose our weak, unprotected underbelly. My goodness…imagine South Africa’ s vulnerability with fiendish power hungry predators like Robert Mugabe and Lesotho’s vicious, expansionist Pakalitha Mosisile lurking in the background. 

Zuma surprised his critics even more when he an admonished strikers for damaging the economy and trashing the streets. A clear show of integrity and consistency by our brave leader who will not waver when he has to face up to current realities. His statement is true to form. His critics will remember, during stay-away action and protests, in support of his legal battles, he steadfastly admonished his followers to go to work. He went so far as to do war dances and issue direct threats to shoot them with his machine gun, fortunately for the anarchists someone hid the gun, in a genuine effort to force them back to work. 

The cherry on the top was the way he told business to sharpen their negotiation skills. It is their bargaining skills, or rather lack thereof, that cause strikes. The so called “captains of industry”  should be ashamed of their failure as leaders. There, staring them in the face, right in front of them they have an example of a man who have the ability to make people believe that excrement is chocolate. All they have to do is learn from the master. But no…the clever business leaders with their fancy MBA’s, thinking they are dealing with an uneducated “native”, are too smart to learn from someone considered academically inferior.

NUM Humiliated

The humiliation suffered by the National Union of Mineworkers because of their unsuccessful strike action at Rustenburg platinum mines, Aquarius and Impala was long overdue and couldn’t have happened to a nicer bunch of people. The bloody nose they received may bring sanity back to the workplace. The strikes, like the other strikes and service delivery protests we had to endure over the past months is largely because of expectations created by the governing ANC and it’s partners in the run-up to the election. In most of the strikes to date unions and their members embarked on strike action, despite receiving wage offers well in excess of the inflation rate. In most cases, the strike action was rewarded with additional small, token, yields by the employer, which inevitably amounted to less than the ultimate losses in earnings suffered by the happy, dancing strikers. NUM, propagators of the construction industry strike and the Crocodile River hostage debacle, have been cock-a-hoop about their successes in holding the country hostage and their successes, which amounted to very little more than victory for the union leaders. 

The Aquarius and Impala strikes were however different and can prove a turning point. In both cases, the union representative created expectations of a high increase—reflected in the extreme nature of the demands—with members. In both instances, union leaders eventually agreed to management’s final offer only to find they could not convince their members to accept the offer. Members embarked on strikes at both the mines and NUM leaders found they had no control over the members. A matter of concern to the mining companies because of the threats to life and property. 

At Aquarius, fourth biggest platinum producer in the world, the 2700 strikers were dismissed and a process of re-engagement commenced. This created the opportunity to streamline the workforce, still slightly bloated by the feeding frenzy during the last platinum boon. As a result, the union action will probably be 300 -350 job losses. NUM leaders at Aquarius suffered a total loss of credibility with some beaten up and others having to go into hiding. The dismissed workers who are lucky enough to be re-engaged, will probably lose some of their benefits whilst the less lucky ones will go home without so much as handshake, never mind a severance package. 

The strike at Impala involved 25 000 people and the situation was slightly more complex. When the Union, after agreeing to management’s final offer, failed to convince the workers to accept the 10%  offer, they embarked on a strike. Impala wanting to box to Queensberry rules, applied for a court order to force the workers back to work. The attempt failed, the strike went ahead accompanied by the obligatory intimidation and associated violence. A minority of workers never went on strike, a fact denied by NUM, in a vain attempt to convince the world that solidarity was unaffected. After a few days, it became clear that deep divisions had developed within NUM, acknowledged by an insider after the strike ended. The divisions manifested itself when it culminated in a vicious attack on the deputy president of the union by members,  resulting in him losing his eye whilst trying to convince them to go back to work. A branch leader was badly beaten in the same incident. Again, NUM tried to white wash the incident by blaming criminal elements for the attack. They were of course correct in their assertion, the attackers are criminals but they are also members. The divisions became deeper and the disillusionment with NUM grew, so much so that on Monday, a regional representative was held hostage at one of the Impala mines, his clothes were torn from his body before he managed to escape and go into hiding. Following the incident, the entire branch committee was kicked out and a new committee was elected. The new committee went to the rest of the mine and convinced workers, supporting the strike action, to go back to work. 

The miners returned to work on Tuesday and the CEO of Impala issued a statement outlining the cost and losses suffered because of the two week strike. He made it clear that attempts will be made to recover cost by cost cutting which will inevitably lead to the closure of marginal shafts and the commensurate job losses. Fortunately, for Impala workers, now facing the prospect of retrenchment they will, unlike the Aquarius workers, receive severance packages, not that they deserve it. Despite this, NUM having to save face declared that the strike action was a worthwhile exercise and a victory for the union. 

The divisions, so clearly illustrated in these two cases, mirrors the state in which the Broad church of the ANC in North West and other parts of the country finds itself. Divisions, between the executive, the branches, the regions, left, centre, right and ordinary members, run deep. People are becoming disillusioned by the empty promises and mindless rhetoric. The events in Rustenburg, was a heavy blow to NUM, especially when they hoped the wounds, left by the rift between Mantashe and Palane had healed This time however, the divisions  go beyond NUM and extends into the heart of the ANC. 

Unfortunately, because of this shortsighted action, the innocent will suffer but that has never a consideration with unions and its members. Because of job cuts to be implemented to compensate for losses suffered and to maintain profitability, some NUM members, who refrained from participation in the strike will lose their jobs. Some loyal workers, middle management and senior management, employees who never strike and have already agreed to zero increases, because of the low commodity prices and thin margins, will be retrenched because of the action of the NUM members. Many of the retrenched managers and senior officials facing retrenchment employ domestic workers who will now lose their jobs swelling the ranks of the unemployed. 

Despite the facts staring us in the face, NUM claimed the strike was a positive action. The truth is, there are no winners here. We can only hope those, who selfishly caused this tragedy, learned from their folly. I doubt that though. Subsequent to these strikes, COSATU defiantly defended absurdities such as soldier mutinies and threats by the desperate textile industry to strike, despite being closed down by cheaper and better Chinese imports. 

Given our past, this lesson will be forgotten by the time we enter the next election when the next generation of madmen will subject us to new lies and empty promises.

The Chinaman and the Sheep

A woolly, feel good story of hope and success. 

In view of a suggestion, made by Clem Sunter, that all South Africans, especially those complaining about the ills of our society, should focus more on finding the good news stories and boldly broadcast these astonishing triumphs, of our rainbow nation, to the world out there. I hope Mr. Sunter does not expect us to put our heads up our collective bums, and tell everyone, prepared to listen, the brown stuff we see, is top quality Belgium chocolate, made in South Africa, by workers who just obtained an increase, double the inflation rate, after threatening to cut off the chocolate supply to the 2010 world cup. 

I was so inspired I immediately went out to look for good-news stories to celebrate and there, amongst the flood of toxic economic data, the dropping manufacturing output, falling mining output, transformation to – in grand Zimbabwean style – a net food importer and rising unemployment, I read about the magnificent performance by the woolgrowers of South Africa. In the middle of South Africa’s unique, and much fêted strike season, the woolgrowers apparently produced and sold the highest ever volume of wool. A remarkable feat indeed, in times of global economic doom and despair. Being naturally analytical by nature, I started digging, hoping to find the reason for their story of glory and triumph. It seems, the biggest buyer of South African wool at this year’s sale, was the Chinese. Very good news, I thought, our wool goes to China and we end up clothing all those little Chinese children. 

To my surprise, as I researched my good-news story, I found, to my shock and horror, Chinese textile workers will turn the South African wool into clothe, which they will sell to us, at prices lower, despite import tariffs, than our textile workers can produce it at. I also discovered that the textile workers are demanding, like all other unions, an increase well in excess of the current inflation rate, which will result in an inevitable increase in local production cost. Does not make sense, does it? My good-news story approaches the farcical when, to my astonishment, I realise that the textile industry is earmarked for a “Presidential bail-out” and the current Minister of Economic Development, Ebrahim Patel, is a past General Secretary of the trade union (SACTWU). I suppose, expecting the workers to understand the consequences, is asking a bit much, after all, the President and the Minister in charge of economic development, seem to have things under control. It is ironic that one of our stated economic developmental objectives is the promotion of downstream value-adding product enhancement. Well, so much for my good news story, destroyed by an industry, which has been on the road to self-destruction for years. 

Not surprisingly, the “good news” story turns out to be a common occurrence. South Africa, having the best Chrome Ore resources in the world by far, developed and grew from a small base in 1980 to the worlds primary ferrochrome producer in 2004. However, since 2004, ferrochrome production stagnated and ore producers started exporting chrome ore to China who, with ore from South Africa, Kazakhstan and India, are now producing Ferrochrome cheaper than we do. The premium resulting from the additional cost of shipping high volume, low-grade chrome ore, instead of lower volumes ferrochrome, are negated by the lower cost of labour and power in China. The creeping rot will continue to accelerate, at an alarming pace because of unsustainable and unrealistic increases in the primary input costs, power and labour, over the next few years. Somehow, like confused alchemists, we turn gold into dirt by allowing the rape of the best Chrome resource in the world. 

It is “success” stories, like these, that drive investors to Brazil, China, India and Indonesia. Volkswagen recently, having reduced output from South African factories, has opened a factory in India. BHP Billiton, a company with South African roots, reduced aluminum output from their Richards Bay plant and moved production to Brazil. The same BHP Billiton’s planned capital expenditure in South Africa is limited to USD 1.3 million, a mere 10% of their total planned capital expenditure.

Sorry Clem, maybe you can find good news in this lot…I tried. Just do not blame me for not suggesting a solution. It is just too obvious. Even Malema, Vavi, The President and Patel should spot it.

Mining…Killing for Profit?

The tragic accident, in which nine miners were killed, hangs like a shadow over an industry, which, for many reasons, has become less and less competitive over the years, an industry that can now only be described as an industry in crisis. The sad part is that, before any investigations were done the fingers were pointing and blame was apportioned, mostly to management and owners. In reality, the South African culture of risk-taking and the low value placed on life by sectors of the population are, with the inherent risk of mining, the main causes of fatalities in SA mines. To suggest mine owners “Kill for Profit” is ridiculous and a reflection the intelligence of those prescribing to the idea.

 Apportioning Blame

Solidarity was quick to point to the poor safety performance of the South African mining industry in comparison to mine safety performance in developed countries such as Australia, Canada and the USA. Such comparisons do show that mining in South Africa is eighteen times more likely to kill you than it is in Australia. It also shows that we are ten times more likely to be killed on the road, driving to the killer mine, than in Australia. However, the likelihood that you will be murdered before you get into your car is 60 times higher than it would be in Australia. It is ironic that we measure mining bosses against the highest safety standards in the world but we are quite happy to compare our road safety and crime with against the worst standards. It is quite in order for Ministers, Government Officials and others responsible for Transport, Road Safety, Safety and Security and Health facilities to be compared against lower standards

Why are we surprised when we hear about another mine death?  How does the owner’s desire to profit from mining contribute to the death of the risk takers in underground ‘’accidents’’?  How will the call for imprisonment of owners and/or management prevent accidents caused by people with such attitude to safety and risk?

What is surprising in all of this is the denial of any responsibility and accountability, for any accident or injury of any kind, by workers representatives, in particular the NUM. We never hear of the union member who took a shortcut thus putting his colleague in danger. The recent hostage drama orchestrated and executed by reckless Union members, placing lives in danger, yet exonerated by NUM is a prime example of poor attitude. Media reporting of fatal injuries in mines has become emotional and sensational thus making reasoning around mine safety issues emotional and not analytical.

Because of these relentless attacks on management and mine owners, we have reached a situation where the call by unions, for draconian measures such as exorbitant fines and imprisonment, are actually considered by the Minister. When gross and deliberate negligence exists, any reasonable person will accept the suggestion of drastic measures against anyone found to be negligent. This rule should however, not only apply to management and owners, but also to workers who cause injury or death. Perhaps a worker killed as result of his own risk taking and negligence, should forfeit any insurance payouts to his family. A draconian measure? Most certainly, but so is putting someone in jail because someone died on a mine for which he is responsible because of the negligence of another. As it is, mine owners have taken drastic measures against senior executives in response to poor safety performance. Unions on the other hand, will fight the sanctions against their negligent and reckless members with everything in their power.

Mining is Risky

What is largely being ignored in the media and in the public domain is the simple fact that Mining is inherently risky. Deep level labour-intensive mining as practiced in South Africa is particularly hazardous and the best way to make these places perfectly safe is to stay the hell out of there and opt for subsistence farming. The main risk attributing factors are the physical operating environment, which include geological features, geophysical and geothermal factors. Other, often more critical and manageable, factors include skill, culture and behaviour of employees (including management, supervisors and workers) and finally engineering factors such as machines, chemicals and tools.

Certain pursuits are inherently more dangerous than others, an undeniable truth, to expect mines to be comparable to a bank, as a place of work, is absurd. To expect police work to be free of risk to life is equally absurd and people accept it as such.

The impact of people factors, experience, training and culture, on our poor safety performance, are largely ignored and are therefore not adequately addressed. The reasons why these issues are seldom highlighted are legion. Suffice to know, due to affirmative action, global skills demand in the resource sector, coupled with poor education and sub-standard training; we have a dire shortage of technical skills at all levels. Given the inexperience of supervisors and managers, we should consider ourselves lucky that we do not kill more people in our mines. The South African mining industry operates in one of the most challenging mining environments in the world and does so with a poorly equipped human resource pool. Even China, with their atrocious mine safety record; operate their mines utilising a higher worker skill base.

Risk Takers

South Africans have a death wish and no respect for life. We see it in everyday life. Driving from Pretoria to Rustenburg, a while ago I noticed, at an informal settlement, the concrete fence separating it from the N4 to safeguard and prevent inhabitants from making dangerous road crossings. Despite the erection of four pedestrian bridges, the inhabitants have chosen to break the, very substantial, fences and now cross the busy highway in the face oncoming traffic. Most of the people living in Majakaneng are employed by the surrounding mines and the person employed by a mine in the area is, most likely, the person that makes the hole in the fence and takes the risk to make the dangerous and illegal crossing of the road.  I cannot think of any reason why this risk taker will change his behavior when he goes underground to work.

High-risk behaviour of South Africans is inexcusable. People doing this, can only be stupid and lazy.  The second reason could be that there is a lot of truth in the perception, that South Africans have a “life is cheap”-culture.  A third reason is a culture of risk taking that can be linked to the “life is cheap” culture.  We see this behavior in many aspects of the daily life of South Africans.  It is evident in the way they use the roads, the risks taken when people make illegal electrical connections to the power grid. We see it in schools where violence is the order of the day with children attacking each other with the intent to kill and the popular “Train surfing” in the township, which is a dangerous equivalent of Russian roulette. Many South Africans do not value life and they show scant respect for their lives and the lives of others.

We see risk taking and a total disregard for life beyond the workplace and the roads. Only in South Africa do people, diagnosed with Multi-drug Resistant TB (XDR-TB), escape from hospital to go home and effectively deliver a death sentence to family and friends. Only in South Africa do they pass HIV/Aids on with gay abandon. Only in South Africa do witchdoctors kill hundreds of teenage boys in traditional initiation rituals.

 The Way Forward

The South African mining industry spends more money than any other South African industry on training and education. It is in training and education where government and labour can contribute greatly to the reduction of risk to life and limb in mines by becoming party to genuine training initiatives put in place by the mining companies. It is however important that their participation are based on genuine desire and not political agendas and ideology of a few individuals. The role of government should be one of coordination and legislation whilst labour should assist in pressurising the freeing up of funds tied up in ineffective Setas and assist management in setting up workable and effective training programs after effective and valid analysis of industry needs. Establishing proper training will add more to mine safety than astronomical fines and criminal charges.

To continue to blame mine deaths on an owner/management drive for profit is mischievous and counter productive. It impacts negatively on the problem and efforts to improve the situation. The current approach of apportioning blame, by the unions and the DME, are counter-productive. Mine owners, for many years, have been monitoring the cost of accidents.  They have concluded long ago that the cost of accidents erodes profit and impacts negatively on the image of mining as an investment option.