The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has demanded the resignation of Neal Froneman, the chief executive of one one of South Africa's biggest mining companies Sibanye Stillwater after he allegedly insulted the leadership of the country and refused to work with representative unions.
NUM president Joseph Montisetse said Froneman led his company to acquire Lonmin and Anglo Platinum mines in the platinum belt and under his leadership there have been many job losses in the mining sector.
"Froneman is the major destroyer of jobs in the mining industry. He did buy the Cook operations in the gold sector in SA and immediately put them on care and maintenance resulting in huge job losses or retrenchments. Froneman's main objective is to punish workers and their families. He also bought Lonmin and Anglo Platinum operations in the platinum belt and put some of the operations on care and maintenance. He then retrenched a lot of workers,” Montisetse said.
Montisetse also criticised one of Froneman’s media interviews in which he cited the country's leadership, blaming it for the poverty gap in the country.
"It is an insult to attack the leadership of this country. Froneman is also attacking religious, trade union and community leaders as a whole. This is unacceptable," Montisetse said.
Meanwhile, more than 30 000 workers at Sibanye Gold have been locked out of the mine due to a breakdown in negotiations between unions and the mine.
The NUM and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), the majority unions at the mine, have also embarked on industrial action.
The NUM is determined to pursue its demands for an increase of R1 000 for surface, underground miners and 6% for artisans, miners and officials.
"The NUM and AMCU members are not going to capitulate in fighting for better salaries and benefits at Sibanye Stillwater."
The NUM has accused Sibanye of taking workers for granted. The union said the mine can afford to meet the demands of the workers.
On the other hand Sibanye said if the company were to meet the demands of the workers the salary bill would rise to over R2 billion.
Company spokesperson James Welsted said the mine was committed to improving the lives of workers but at a reasonable cost. He hoped the impasse between the unions and the mine would soon come to an end.
"The unions are sticking to their R1 000 demand and we have amended our offer six times but they have not moved at all," Welsted said.
He said workers did not have an appetite for a strike which would affect workers and suppliers in the long term.