Major job losses are looming in the mining sector as two mining giants, Kumba Iron Ore and Anglo American Platinum announce Section 189A processes are under way.
The nation’s largest iron ore producer says they will review 160 of their service providers, joining Amplats which announced its plans to shed 3 700 jobs.
This comes as Statistics South Africa earlier released the unemployment rate for the fourth quarter of 2023, which rose to 32.1% from 31.9% in the third quarter.
National Union of Mineworkers spokesperson Livhuwani Mammburu confirmed that some of their members received retrenchment letters from Amplats.
“In fact it’s not only 3 700, it’s more than 8 000 workers who have received Ssection 189 letters which means they are likely to be retrenched. So, today we were also issued with Section 189 letters at Kumba Iron Ore where the company indicated that they are likely to retrench 500 workers. With Anglo Platinum yesterday on top of that there are 620 contractors so as the NUM we are deeply worried about these announcements of retrenchments.”
