Gold mining companies have started to fight back against moneylenders, who, they say, are preying on employees and damaging labour relations.
AngloGold Ashanti, Sibanye Gold, Harmony Gold and Gold Fields are working together to challenge court orders that require them to dock workers' wages and pay the money over to creditors, spokesmen for the companies said yesterday. They have hired lawyers to invalidate "phoney" orders.
"Indebtedness was a huge issue in the 2013 gold mining wage negotiations," Charmaine Russell, a spokesman for the producers, said.
About 13% of miners are subject to attachment orders, which automatically deduct debt from their pay, Russell said, citing research by the University of Pretoria. Rising indebtedness contributed to the platinum mine strikes in which 44 people were killed at Marikana in 2012, according to the government.
Some lenders charge as much as R7000 for a R1000 loan, according to Shiraz Essakjee, a payroll manager at Gold Fields.
"There are many, many loan sharks out there, called mashonisas in the mining industry, and they're very difficult to manage," Russell said.
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