Alexkor is another state-owned entity that has been marred by allegations of mismanagement that are believed to have exacerbated the entity’s financials. Speaking on behalf of the CEO of the Pooling and Sharing Joint Venture (PSJV) between Alexkor SOC and the Richtersveld Mining Company, Mervyn Carstens, the Company Secretary, Raygen Phillips, tells OFM News they are engaging with the unions on packages after issuing a formal notice of retrenchments recently.

Phillips says the mine’s financial position has been affected as a result of adverse sea conditions which had a significant impact on production of marine contractors. In late February the mine vehemently denied that it was going to retrench any of its employees or that it had allegedly failed to pay January salaries timeously. Phillips does not mention that the mine’s carat production decreased significantly after the decision to grant an exclusive deep water mining licence to one company in 2017 backfired when the company’s vessel caught fire resulting in no carat production over the 2017/18 financial year.

In 2003 the Supreme Court of Appeal delivered a landmark judgment that restored the Richtersveld Community’s right to the mineral resources of the land and ordered that Alexkor must compensate the people for damage done. In 2011, a pooling and sharing joint venture (PSJV) between the community and the mine was formed as a result. OFM News has been informed that the Richtersveld is yet to benefit from the initiative, something which the mine and the Northern Cape government denies.

Requests to interview the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises, Lungi Mnganga-Gcabashe, regarding Alexkor RMCJV have been denied. OFM News has been informed that Mnganga-Gcabashe is busy campaigning for elections and none of the members of the committee are available for an interview on the matter.

In a message on the company website from Chairperson Tshediso Matola – appointed in September 2018 – he states that “PSJV is operated within a sound governance framework and on commercial terms, through both oversight by the management of its activities and Alexkor Board representation in the PSJV Board.

OFM News