The trade union Solidarity today received two more Section 189 notices from mines, which could jointly result in the retrenchment of nearly 1 000 employees. Meanwhile, continuous research by Solidarity shows that more than 12 000 employees in the mining industry could be affected by the planned retrenchments at various mines.

The task team will, amongst other tasks, draw up a plan to provide alternatives for the retrenchment of 12 000 mineworkers. “The world’s economy currently has a massive influence on South Africa’s mining industry and while there is no improvement in the economies of countries to which South Africa exports raw materials, local circumstances will also not improve,” explains Kleynhans.