The protesters, consisting mainly of unemployed young people are complaining about the speaker, Maake interfering in development programs aimed at employing people at Palabora Copper (PC).
Phalaborwa Herald reported in the issue of February 20, that the Palabora Copper announced that potential job seekers from five tribal authorities must forward their CV’s and copies of their qualifications to designated areas to be considered for various jobs for the lift two plant which is expected to run until 2033.
The protesters led by members of Ba Phalaborwa Unemployment and Development Forum accuse Maake, of taking people’s CV’s and keeping them in his office.
They also complained about being sidelined when it comes to employment at the mine, they say a number of people currently employed are not from Phalaborwa and that companies hired by the mine do not hire local people.
Vice chairperson of Ba Phalaborwa Unemployment and Development Forum, Castro Mashele said Maake should be removed as the speaker in Ba Phalaborwa Municipality.
‘The five councilors that Maake bribed to insult the Chief at Makhushane should be recalled and all the CV’s in the speaker’s office must be returned back to the owners, because the speaker’s office is not a hiring agency,’ said Mashele.
He further said that Maake should concentrate on what he has been hired to do at the municipality and leave the people at the mine to do their job.
Another resident, Joseph Mashego said they have been deprived of opportunities in the past and that should come to an end.
‘Maake is not from Phalaborwa and therefore he won’t plough back to the community, they must hire someone from this area,’ said Mashego.
Residents demand that all vacancies at Palabora Copper should be communicated to the communities and business people in the area should be prioritized for business.
Mashele said they need a response within seven days.
‘If we don’t receive a positive response from the date of delivering the memorandum, we will do anything in our power to have our demands met,’ said Malesa.
A prominent community leader from Namakgale, Nduna Malungane said he disagrees with the demands of the protesters.
‘The people from those tribal offices are selfish and cruel, they didn’t want people from Namakgale and Lulekani to take their CV’s to the tribal offices, now that Maake intervened and we were able to take our CV’s to the libraries, they complain.
“The same people said in the past that Namakgale and Lulekani people will ever work at the mine, the mine belongs to the Sotho speaking people only because they believe to be the rightful residents of Ba Phalaborwa, which is not true,’ said Malungane.
Ba Phalaborwa Municipality spokesperson, Jonas Mahesu said the appointment of employees at Palabora Copper has nothing to do with the municipality.
‘We received CV’s from the residents as per agreement with PC, the CV’s have been collected by a representative from PC on the due date, all the CV’s are at PC now.
The speaker is not involved in appointing anyone to work at the mine,’ said Mahesu.
In the meanwhile Palabora Copper said last Wednesday that its shareholders had approved the R9.3 billion plan to extend the life of its copper mine.
‘A group of shareholders composed of the Chinese consortoim which include global steel manufacturer HBIS and South Africa’s IDC approves a 9.3 billion rand life of mine extension project for Palabora Copper,’ the company said in a statement.
