01 Aug 2019

Residents of Jwaneng and surrounding areas have benefitted from job opportunities for semi-skilled and unskilled labour force under the Jwaneng Mine Cut 9 project, Parliament has been told.

Responding to a question on July 31, the Minister of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security, Mr Eric Molale said 53 employees from Jwaneng and surrounding villages were engaged for the hospital upgrade project while 56 were from other parts of the country.

Majwe mines which had been contracted by the Cut 9 project employed a total of 419 people, of which 99 per cent were citizens, Mr Molale said.

He further added that construction phase of the hospital upgrade was reserved for citizens and was thus awarded to Jumcorp (Pty) Ltd, while the design was awarded to Health Solution, which was a joint venture between a South African company and a Botswana company.

To ensure non-exploitation of workers and adherence to labour laws, Minister Molale said special instructions were placed on the contracts entered into with the contractors to adhere to legislation and labour practices.

He also noted that no labour hire agencies were engaged in recruitment as employees were directly employed by the contractors.

As a result he added, majority of employees engaged for Cut 8 carried on to Cut 9 as it was a continuation of the project.    

The Member of Parliament for Jwaneng-Mabutsane, Mr Shawn Nthaile had inquired on the number and types of jobs reserved for citizens and companies for the implementation of Jwaneng Mine Cut 9 project including the hospital expansion.  

Mr Nthaile also wanted to know among others, the names of contractors engaged at the mine, the percentage of citizens employed, how many of the employed were recruited through Jwaneng Labour office, the special instructions to all contracted companies specifying the percentage of Batswana to be employed in their workforce.

He further wanted to know what measures were put in place to ensure that contractors did not exploit Batswana workers through labour hire agencies and steps taken to ensure that youth from surrounding villages were given priority on job opportunities. Ends