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Controversial mining company Central Rand Gold (CRG), which is based in Roodepoort on Johannesburg’s West Rand, is at loggerheads with its employees for allegedly failing to pay over pension deductions.
According to two highly placed sources, including a senior employee at the company, CRG has not paid over pension funds deducted from employees for almost five months.
“The last time they paid over pensions was in July, and now people who are going on pension are being told that their pensions are not up to date. They are using our pensions to run the mine,” they told City Press.
The gold mining company employs almost 130 people.
For the past few months, staff have been getting their salaries in two batches each month, apparently because the company is going through a rough patch financially.
Zolile Smous, secretary-general of the Building Allied Mining and Construction Workers’ Union, said the union found out about the issue in the middle of last year, but, after approaching the company, was told that pension and provident fund deductions had been paid.
“In about December, we approached CRG again. They admitted that they were in arrears and had not been paying the pension and provident fund contributions,” said Smous.
He confirmed that employees were not being paid their full salaries because of production issues, according to CRG.
“Salaries were not paid in full. Workers were paid about 50%, depending on production.”
Smous said the union had to drag the company to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) to get it to commit to pay last month’s bonuses, but the parties eventually agreed on the bonuses being paid over two months – last month and this month.
“Even after agreeing at the CCMA, they did not honour the agreement in December,” Smous added.
He said the company had called a meeting on Friday to update staff, but the union had not been formally informed, nor had it been invited.
According to some staff who attended the mass meeting, CRG promised to pay over the pensions and the remainder of the bonuses, and to sort out electricity supply, which was blamed for a recent shutdown in operations.
The company is not new to controversy. It has previously had its mining licence cancelled by the department of mineral resources, has had ex-convicts-turned-businessmen Gayton McKenzie and Kenny Kunene as minority shareholders and, two years ago, was reportedly bailed out with two loans by one of its shareholders, Jia Bang Wang.
CRG listed on the JSE in November 2007 with ridiculous promises of 1 million ounces of gold production by 2012 at an equally ridiculous cost price of $320 (R4 440) an ounce, a target it didn’t come close to. Its annual production of bullion has not surpassed 10 000oz.
The company’s share price was also previously one of the worst performers on the JSE.
It is unclear who the current shareholders and directors are.
A list of questions sent to CRG and various follow-up calls were not responded to.
