BONUS -BETHANIE - The Glencore Rhovan mine operations, situated in Bethanie village in the Rustenburg Local Municipality, is back in operation after four weeks of work stoppage.
This after local residents blockaded roads leading to the mine complaining about lack of employment opportunities by the contractors doing business at the mine. The mine workforce comprises 65% of the local community members.
The situation prompted the North West Provincial Government led by the Acting Premier, Patrick Dumile Nono Maloyi to establish the technical team led by MEC for Economic Development, Environment, Conservation and Tourism (DEDECT) - Galebekwe Tlhapi, Acting Head of DEDECT - Lebogang Diale and the Head of the Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Department, Dr Ben Bole, to intervene in the impasse.
Bakwena ba Mogopa is located in several villages, which amongst others, includes Bethanie, Jericho and Hebron. The tribe, which is led by Kgosi Motheo Mamogale, owns 26% stake of Rhovan operations and the residents are complaining about the high levels of unemployment in the communities.
After three (3) weeks of negotiation between the provincial government, Rhovan Glencore mine and community leaders, agreed on short, medium and long term solutions, with employment of fixed term workers being an immediate measure.
Seventy (70) workers will be employed immediately and another batch of seventy (70) will be employed in July for a minimum of six (6) months period, in different projects including the establishment of a solar power farm. The MEC for DEDECT, Virginia Tlhapi, is satisfied with what the negotiations have yielded. She believes more will be done to bring stability, improving the relations between the mine and the community and creating more opportunities.
“We are delighted to announce that the community has agreed to opportunities presented to them by the mine as a short-term measure. We will resolve other issues raised which included the businesses after creating legitimate structures in the areas.
We intend to host community meetings in all Bakwena ba Mogopa villages to form structures that will champion the interest of the communities. The provincial government also intends to oversee the formation of the Board of Trustees as soon as possible, which will be accountable to the mine royalties of Bakwena Ba Mogopa and further create socio-economic opportunities for all,” remarked MEC Tlhapi.
Rhovan is a Glencore open cast managed mine operation in Bethanie. Its mineral deposit comprises vanadiferous, titaniferous, magnetite gabbro, with vanadium occurring in the magnetite. The Chief Operation Officer – Adriaan Brugman, said the Rhovan remains committed to empowering their host communities so that they thrive with good education, better health facilities and with business and employment opportunities.
“We have employed 649 workers and 65% are from the Bakwena Ba Mogopa villages and we have about 380 on fixed term contracts of which 86% are locals. All employment and business opportunities are advertised on our information portal to ensure fairness and transparency.
We are creating other opportunities through the implementation of the Social and Labour plans. The current SLP is yet to be approved. This is worrisome because we want to implement projects and unlock more opportunities,” said Brugman.
