Black Christmas awaits Sibanye-Stillwater employees facing retrenchment

1 November 2022

According to Solidarity, the announcement that Sibanye-Stillwater intends to lay off a total of 1 959 employees and 465 contractors at their Beatrix 4 shaft in Welkom could not have come at a worse time for these affected employees.
 
Solidarity explains that the mining company made the announcement due to alleged losses, as well as alleged declines in mineral reserves at their metallurgical plant at Kloof mine.
 
Solidarity says this development means that the affected employees face a black Christmas with the uncertainty of whether they will still have a job in 2023.
 
“However, Sibanye has shown with the previous 189-consultations regarding their Beatrix shafts and after the takeover of the Marikana mines from Lonmin, that they are investigating all alternatives to minimise the number of affected employees, and Solidarity believes that this will once again be the case,” says Gideon du Plessis, General Secretary of Solidarity.  
 
Solidarity will actively participate in the consultation process with the hope of preventing retrenchments, but otherwise keeping it to a minimum.
 
The 189-process will be facilitated by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) and a date for the first round of the consultation process has yet to be confirmed.

Issued by Gideon du Plessis, General Secretary, Solidarity, 1 November 2022