A National Union of Mine- workers (NUM) leader, who chairs a branch in the hostile platinum belt, where the tragic Marikana killings took place a year ago, has called for the eradication of South Africa’s mine-hostel system, which he condemns as “barbaric”.

NUM branch chairperson Papi Moteti was speaking to Mining Weekly on the sidelines of the presentation of results of the 7 000-employee black-controlled Royal Bafokeng Platinum (RBPlat).

Moteti, who said that mineworkers should have the oppor- tunity to live in proper accommodation with their families, also condemned the payment of living-out allowances.

“We need to abolish the hostel system. We’ve found it to be very barbaric,” he said, adding that the hostels had a history of conflict and alienation of family life.

RBPlat was on the receiving end of a half-year of diligent performance from its workforce, which has been operating peacefully in an otherwise hostile platinum belt.

The company reported an improved operating performance, with total tons broken increasing by 9%, and an 11% reduction in labour, following the incident-free retrenchment of 760 employees.

RBPlats managed to reduce working costs at its Bafokeng Rasimone platinum mine by 11% and improve safety by 8%.

“We’re eternally grateful to our employees’ unions and our com- munities for their support during this period,” RBPlat COO Nico Muller told analysts and the media, promising regular ongoing engagement.

Earlier, RBPlat CEO Steve Phiri flashed pictures onto a big screen showing employee houses under construction.

Occupancy of the first 46 houses will take place in October.

“In our current wage agreement, we’re pushing for decent housing accommodation where our members can live with their families,” Moteti added.

Phiri said the 46 houses were part of a programme to build 400 houses by March next year.

“We’ll then move into the second phase of house building. It’s a massive project,” Phiri added.

Moteti commended the high literacy levels of RBPlat’s workforce and said that some underground rockdrill operators were holders of university degrees.

But the major cause of industrial peace was the absence of hostels.

“Each and every person is living in the community around the operation,” Moteti said, adding that 73% of RBPlat’s permanent employees – 2 200 out of 3 000 – were NUM members, with the remaining employees being members of Uasa.

The NUM branch had also been campaigning against the payment of living-out allowances, which Moteti saw as accelerating the spread of squatter camps.

RBPlat also employs a con- tracted workforce, which falls under a separate wage bargaining structure that will begin negotiating in September and October.

At the time of going to press, there were no indications of any potential labour unrest at contracted employee level.

Mining analyst Nic Dinham, of BNP Paribas Cadiz, queried why RBPlat was the only major mining operation in the Rustenburg area where NUM was still the major- ity union and whether RBPlat was planning more retrenchments.

Phiri responded that employees were free to join any union of their choice, and that the com- pany had created an environment for freedom of association at the operations.

“We try to treat our employees as partners in the business rather than as instruments of work,” said Phiri, who added that further retrenchment was not anticipated at this stage.

Phiri told Mining Weekly that the company was now planning to employ 4 000 people at its enlarged but lower capital expen- diture (capex) Styldrift growth project, 1 000 more than the originally envisaged 3 000.

Styldrift is destined to be a high- powered mechanised operation, for which R400-million less capex had been earmarked.

The original R11.8-billion capex estimate is now down to R11.39-billion, with the company getting more project for less money as a result of project costs declining since the 2008 boom, as well as technological advances.

RBPlat’s balance sheet remains ungeared and the company has ready access to cash of close to R1-billion.

The lower-capexed operation will have a deeper shaft than stipulated in the initial plan and will be mined by a still-to-be-ordered trackless equipment fleet.

Mechanisation has been facilitated by reef thickness, which in some areas is up to 2 m, as well as orebody uniformity, which lends itself to bord-and-pillar mining.