Sixty days and counting: Labour Department still hasn't helped Aurora's workers

The workers of the liquidated Aurora Pamodzi Grootvlei mine have been unemployed for more than three years now. And yet they have still not received the sponsored training and support due to them in terms of the Training Lay-off Scheme.

I have today written to the Department of Labour to ask what the delay is in securing the proper support for these workers. 

While the Department dithers, these workers live in unsanitary and inhumane conditions with little prospect of ever receiving the money that Aurora (owned by Khulubuse Zuma and Zondwa Mandela) owes them. 

Sixty days ago, on the 13th of November 2011, I met with the workers' committee, the manager of the Grootvlei mine in Springs, the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) and the Deputy Director-General of Labour, Mr Sam Moratoba, to find a solution to this problem. 

We all agreed that the workers deserve to receive support from the Training Lay-off Scheme. Mr Moratoba agreed that his department would take up the issue as soon as possible. I informed the media of this situation at the time.  

Since then, unfortunately, the Department of Labour has not been able to do anything to help these people. I have been in constant contact with Mr Moratoba to suggest that he resolve this situation, but only excuses have been forthcoming.

The problem is simple to resolve: the Aurora workers' application qualifies them for support from the Training Lay-off Scheme in all aspects but one - they do not have a current contract of employment. Workers need to have a current contract of employment in order to qualify under the Scheme. With the Aurora bosses having abandoned the mine and it being placed in provisional liquidation, it is not technically a "lay-off" and these 1 200 workers do not qualify, under a strict interpretation of the rules.

Mr Moratoba has the power to overrule this technicality. There is no clear reason for the Department of Labour not to make an exception in this unique case. 

The Aurora mineworkers have suffered long enough. I will do whatever I can to ensure that they get the support to which they are entitled. 

Statement issued by Ian Ollis MP, DA Shadow Minister of Labour, January 12 2012

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