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Richards Bay Minerals resumes operations in KwaZulu-Natal

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The Richards Bay Minerals on the north coast of KwaZulu-Natal has resumed operations in phases starting from on Wednesday. The decision to resume operations comes after RMB and its hosting communities reached an agreement to continue working together.

The mine suspended its operations two months ago just after its General Manager, Nico Swart, was murdered while on his way to work in May.

The safety of the employees of RBM remains a concern however the company opened its doors to kick off operations. In June heavy machinery and infrastructure were also damaged in a violent protest at KwaSokhulu.

But now RBM has released R130 million to the community trusts. The trusts have been receiving dividends since it was set up in 2009 as part of a BEE transaction.

RBM’s Managing Director, Werner Duvenhage, says they are happy they have ironed out differences with their hosting communities.

“We signed an agreement with the Amakhosi on behalf of the communities that committing all parties to ensure the long term modernisation of the trust, we feel that we have sufficiently addressed all issues that have kept our business closed and we can now safely and sustainably start our operations. This will be done in a phased approach as you can imagine after the long shutdown period starting from today and we are putting various processes starting with COVID-19, as a business, we will continue to work hard to ensure long term stability of our operations for the sustainability of our stakeholders.”

Own investigations

Duvenhage says the company is also conducting its own investigations into the murder of their late General Manager, Nico Swart, but collaborating with the police.

“With regards to Nico’s murder investigation, there is dedicated police investigating team that was put together consisting of 11 investigators to investigate this case and other matters that might be connected but not around RBM so definitely a dedicated team from the police. We are also having our own investigations running at the same time and there is a collaboration with the police certainly we will be supporting but looking at similar cases with other organisations in the past it took them about six months to get to something that they can submit to the NPA.”

The KwaZulu-Natal government has welcomed the decision by the RBM to resume its operations. In a statement, Economic Development MEC, Ravi Pillay, said government will ensure law and order are maintained.

Department spokesperson, Bheki Mbanjwa, says many jobs that were under threat will now be saved.

“The Provincial government has been at the forefront of efforts to resolve the impasse between RBM and host communities. This means many jobs that were placed under threat will now be saved. We thank RBM for showing commitment to our province and to the development of the people of KwaZulu-Natal. We are also grateful to the host communities for their willingness to resolve the challenges amicable MEC Pillay said the Provincial government will continue working with all parties involved to ensure there is no repeat of the recent incidents which led to the company closing some of its operations. The government will strive to continue ensuring that there is enough security and that law and order is maintained.”

Lengthy engagements between the company, government, and locals have resulted in the company resuming operations.

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