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Amplats confirms job cuts Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), the world’s biggest platinum producer, is to begin laying off an estimated 6,000 workers in South Africa on September 1. Chris Griffith, Chief Executive Officer of Anglo American Platinum, said “We are at a critical stage of the process and this restructuring will be a crucial step to enable us to return to profitability and to focus capital allocations on our mines that are best placed to sustain the business and create employment opportunities over the long term.” “A month`s notice period for affected employees will commence on 1 September. We are very aware of the impact this process has on our employees and we are working hard to finalise the details of our Social Impact Mitigation Plan aimed at minimising the impact on employees and affected communities.” “The implementation of our proposals will help us create stability for the business and we look forward to working constructively with all our key stakeholders during this time for the benefit of all. Once we have restructured the business, we expect to be in a better position to provide more secure employment for our employees and add the much needed value to all our key stakeholders.” The plan, initially put forward in May this year, comes after talks with the government and unions. Amplats - one of several major international mining companies that have been rocked by labour unrest - had first proposed around 14,000 job cuts. The firm, which accounts for
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Mugabe vows “total” indigenisation Fresh from his recent election win, Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe has vowed to press ahead with a controversial “indigenisation” policy that will force all companies to surrender economic control to black Zimbabweans. Speaking at a rally to mark Defence Forces Day Mugabe, 89, said: “The indigenisation and empowerment drive will continue unabated in order to ensure that indigenous Zimbabweans enjoy a larger share of the country’s resources.” He called the policy the “final phase of the liberation struggle”. “Now that the people of Zimbabwe have granted us a resounding mandate in the governance of the country, we will do everything in our power to ensure that our objective of total indigenisation, empowerment, development and employment is realised,” he said. Foreign-owned companies in Zimbabwe are already supposed to ensure they are at least 51 percent locally owned, a move that has put off investors. Mugabe won Zimbabwe’s Presidential election ahead of former Prime Minister and Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai, garnering 61 percent of the vote. He denies opposition claims that the voting was rigged in his favour. News
Keita wins Mali presidential election
almost 40 percent of global platinum sales, said it will aim for production of 2.2 to 2.4 million platinum ounces per year. National Union of Mineworkers spokesman Lesiba Seshoka was “shocked” by the news. “We are shocked. Our agreement with Amplats was to cut 3,000 jobs and those jobs would not be forced retrenchments but voluntary severance packages. This agreement was reached a week ago,” he said.
Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has won Mali’s presidential race. He was up against rival and ex-Finance Minister Soumaila Cisse, who admitted defeat in the second round. Mr Keita, 68, served as prime minister from 1994 to 2000 and will now oversee the rebuilding of the West African state which has been promised some $4 billion in international development aid. International observers called the election a success. “This election, from a democratic standards point of view, is a success,” said the head of a European Union observer mission, Louis Michel. “It is an election that allows Mali now to start finishing the process that it has begun: the return to a normal democracy.” Maintaining peace in northern Mali will be one of Keita’s main priorities.
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