More than 1200 mineworkers from Ekapa Minerals in Kimberley are still battling to receive salaries and other payments due to them since February this year. That’s after the mine suffered a mud-rush incident in the same month, which claimed the lives of five mineworkers.
After the mud-rush incident the mine then applying for liquidation – a 150 years of a legacy of diamond mining came to an abrupt end and many of the workers, the 1 200 workers that lost the jobs, here are saying they are sitting destitute and hoping that maybe someone would come forth and reopen the mine in the near future.
Now, relief drives in the form of concerts and funding by community organisations and the Northern Cape government are taking place.
Concert organiser Mari Venter says, “There are about 24 artists performing. Everything is sponsored. They are doing it voluntarily. Also, it was important to help the families, I mean they were without salaries, they cannot plan, their pension funds are frozen, so they are all vulnerable financially. I had a food drive. Previously, we contacted all the schools and churches, and they got food from the community. I was able to give approximately 450 families food parcels worth R1750.”
Over 1200 Ekapa Minerals mineworkers in Kimberley still unpaid since February – Mari Venter:
Alisha Williams, a single mother of three, worked at Ekapa Minerals in the change house for almost ten years. She now must depend on her mother for income. She hopes the mine will be reopened.
“Yes, I will also we are praying for that, especially for the mine to open, because currently there’s no work. We’re applying but there is no work. We don’t find any and it’s very frustrating doing what you were supposed to do. And you know every morning you were going to get up and go to work but now with this current situation it’s very disappointing.”
The Junior Mining Council says that over 150 years of diamond mining coming to an abrupt end is a major concern to them. It says the government should consider stepping in to save the mine and keep the industry alive.
Junior Mining Council’s Fred Arendse says, “When you have a challenge, you expect your government to step in. I think there’s an opportunity for government to say: listen, they have mining companies as government mining companies, maybe we should bringing in commercial investors. That could give a potential investor some comfort, knowing there is a partner willing to share the risk. … We’re hoping this can be achieved in the next couple of weeks, because if it is not going to happen i’m afraid you know a single investor is gonna be very very weary to put money into into ekapa or any you know gold mining and especially in the Northern Cape.”
Meanwhile, community organisations are stepping up efforts to support laid-off miners. The Ekapa Relief Concert was held in Kimberley this weekend.
The Department of Mineral Resources and Petroleum is still conducting an incident inspection into the mud rush, while the mine’s application for liquidation continues next week at the Kimberley High Court.
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