Harmony Gold wields the axe

More than 5000 permanent jobs are in jeopardy at the Kusasalethu mine, which Harmony Gold is keeping closed in the wake of wildcat strikes, "lawlessness" and "violence".

The company said it was in discussions with labour unions to try and get production at the Gauteng mine back on track, but had also issued the notices in terms of the Labour Relations Act that are the legal prelude to retrenchments.

This follows months of instability and, according to Harmony, fruitless meetings with the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union.

Amcu has replaced the Cosatu-affiliated National Union of Mineworkers as the most popular union at the mine. But Harmony says it has not gained a clear set of basic demands from discussions with the union.

Harmony CEO Graham Briggs said yesterday that Amcu now represented 62% of the mine's employees, while NUM membership was down to 28% of the workforce.

Briggs cited illegal mass meetings and marches by Amcu as some of the events since October 26 that had made operating the mine "very difficult".

In the latest quarter, weak production led to the previously profitable mine bleeding R252-million in cash.

Amcu president Joseph Mathunjwa would not comment on the situation at Kusasalethu but said he would attend a meeting with his union yesterday afternoon. He did not say what would be discussed.

An illegal strike at the mine, near Carletonville, in October led to 35 days of production losses at a cost of about R325-million, according to the company.

Since the illegal strike was resolved late in October, two employees have died, one has been injured and a mine manager has been assaulted. Management has been threatened.

"The continuing unlawful events caused management to give serious consideration to both the operational and financial position of the mine and the future viability of Kusasalethu," Harmony said yesterday.

The violence, coupled with five illegal underground sit-ins, pulled production down to an estimated 22% of the volume planned for the period.

NUM general secretary Frans Baleni referred to Amcu yesterday as "a group of individuals that gather support only through intimidation".

Both Baleni and Briggs confirmed that NUM still represented about 80% of employees at Harmony's other South African operations.

Baleni said Amcu's influence in the gold-mining sector was "ring-fenced" to Kusasalethu and that it had made inroads into the NUM's membership base at other mines.

NUM spokesman Lesiba Seshoka said he was concerned that wildcat strikes might spread through the sector again.

A wave of illegal strikes hit gold mines last year, not only at Harmony but also at AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields and Gold One.

Gold Fields and AngloGold have since restructured their operations. Gold One has laid off most of its workers at the affected mines. Harmony's Kusasalethu mine employs about 5200 people full-time and 900 contract workers.

Although Amcu's foothold is not as strong in the rest of the gold-mining sector, it has clout in the platinum sector.

It was at the forefront of the illegal strike at Lonmin's Marikana platinum mine that left more than 40 people dead in August.