Standoff at Implats’ Rasimone mine as more than 2,000 miners remain underground

The underground sit-in at Impala Platinum’s (Implats’) Rasimone in North West, at least the fifth to hit South Africa's mining sector in the past two months, remained unresolved late on Tuesday. 

Production at the two shafts has been halted and is unlikely to resume this year as the mine was on the verge of winding down for Christmas.

What is unfolding underground remains as clear as a glass of brandy and coke, and it is not known how many of those involved are willing participants and how many have been coerced. But the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), which is in effect the only union there, expressed concern that some of its members may be intimidating their peers. 

“We are playing a wait-and-see game. We sent our delegation underground and they said they would continue to sit. We are concerned that it is a hostage situation. We are the sole union there and they are our members,” the NUM’s Rustenburg regional secretary, Geoffrey Moatshe, told Daily Maverick. 

Read more in Daily Maverick: Implats latest SA mining company to be hit by underground sit-in

Unlike a pair of similar incidents that flared recently at the Gold One mine, this wildcat strike does not appear to be linked to a conflict between the NUM and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) over bargaining rights and union recognition. 

The NUM’s closed-shop agreement at Rasimone, which excludes minority unions from bargaining, is similar to the one it had at Gold One.  

Read more in Daily Maverick: NUM terminates closed-shop agreement at East Rand's Gold One as violence continues

This underground rumble would seem, from the surface, to be an in-house NUM squabble centred on access to pension funds and a historical profit share scheme.

“Purportedly at the heart of the matter is an expectation created by some that their pension fund savings can/must be paid out. And there are some concerns pertaining to a historical profit share arrangement that workers can at their election convert into a share ownership scheme, which is similar to what our employees have at other operations,” Implats’ spokesperson, Johan Theron, told Daily Maverick. 

The share ownership scheme may speak to the fact that Rasimone employees are not signed up to the same deal because the mine was one of the assets that Implats recently acquired when it took over Royal Bafokeng Platinum (RBPlat) after a protracted tug-of-war with Northam Platinum. 

Read more in Daily Maverick: Northam to sell its Royal Bafokeng Platinum stake to Implats, cites ‘protracted cyclical downturn’ in PGM prices

Access to savings and pension funds is another matter. That would perhaps suggest that many of the miners, who typically have several dependants, are battling to make ends meet as South Africa’s fragile economy – which may be in recession – fails to generate jobs for their kin against the backdrop of a cost-of-living crisis. 

But resorting to an underground wildcat strike seems like an extreme measure to press that point, and is a surprising shift to militancy given the fact that the mine has enjoyed relatively cordial labour relations for years. 

This suggests the possibility of other motives for a strike that appears to have been well coordinated and planned. The mine workers themselves will hopefully see the light of day soon, but the real reasons behind the strike may or may not. DM