22 Nov 2021

Former Majwe Mining Joint Venture employees make up 91 per cent of all the employees employed by Debswana under the fixed term contract process.

This was said by Minister of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security, Mr Lefoko Moagi in Parliament recently. He said following the successful transition of CUT9 from Majwe Mining, Debswana undertook a recruitment drive of fixed term contract employees with open adverts and interviews.

He said through the fixed term contract process Debswana Jwaneng CUT9 operations had a complement of 475 positions of which 464 had been filled and that recruitment continued for the remaining positions of which most were declined by former Majwe Mining employees who had applied for the advertised positions.

The minister said the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and other contractors also employed people to conduct work within CUT 9 operations, adding that information provided by the respective contractors showed an additional complement of 338 people across all other companies of which 107 were former Majwe employees.

He explained that given the current complement, the overall employment complement in CUT 9 had increased from the previous Majwe Mining complement through the transition process and that it was expected to increase with further awarding of contracts.

Mr Moagi said Majwe Mining had 617 employees inclusive of expatriates and that currently there were 802 employees involved through fixed term contracts and business partners.

He explained that Debswana had an ongoing transformation programme which was a strategy delivery vehicle for the company’s 2024 strategy that was launched in 2020.

He said amongst the key initiatives for the efficiency and productivity improvement strategic intent under the programme was the closure of some of the assets at the OLDM operation, namely the Orapa Plant 1 which was permanently retired due to the risks presented by its aged structure and Damtshaa Mine which was placed under care and maintenance indefinitely as a response to its diminishing productivity.

The minister said consequent to these, redundancies arose that led to a voluntary exit exercise for affected OLDM employees.

He said the voluntary exit exercise received a high uptake resulting in a residual number of the affected employees being re-deployed to other areas of the business at the various operations, Jwaneng Mine included.

He said it was therefore important to note that the re-deployments were done accordingly in a bid to ensure minimal job losses for affected incumbents, and that they were not a reflection of Debswana’s disregard of its potential to recruit externally.

The minister said it was envisaged that through the continued localisation of Debswana’s long-term contracts and the unbundling of CUT 9 contract packages, more employment opportunities would be created for the benefit of the broader citizen community.

He said the Debswana Citizen Economic Empowerment Programme (CEEP) had two breakthrough outcomes on creating and delivering shared citizen spend value of P20 billion and 20 000 jobs by 2024.

Mr Moagi stated that the 2021 key breakthrough actions included the development of citizen participation in the supply and transportation of fuel, delivering on a transformational plan that created opportunities for citizen ownership participation in the OEM sector, and import substitution focusing on local manufacturing and services like explosives manufacturing by Batswana.

He explained that Debswana Jwaneng Mine currently had 2 477 employees hired directly by Debswana inclusive of the CUT 9 employees.

The employees, he said, included 46 who were transferred to Jwaneng Mine following the OLDM asset closure, adding that out of the total complement, nine employees were expatriates.

In addition, the minister said Debswana Jwaneng Mine was 99.7 per cent localised and that the 0.3 per cent expatriate-held positions cut across different disciplines according to the specialised needs of the business.

He said the expatriates were spread across various disciplines which included mining, health services, project management and education.

He explained that Debswana had a clear and deliberate position of localisation and that the overall organisation was 99 per cent localised.
Mr Moagi reiterated his assurance that no Batswana jobs would be lost, stating that declining a job offer whether due to salary disparity and/or unhappiness about the conditions could not be equated to having lost a job without any alternatives.

He said Debswana and the CUT 9 team continued to explore means to create opportunities for citizen- owned companies and secure the skills required for the efficient and effective running of the mining operation.

Jwaneng-Mabutsane MP, Mr Mephato Reatile had asked the minister to state the number of Majwe Mining employees who were absorbed by Debswana and its sub-contractors as well as the number of those who were not employed and were as a result roaming the streets.

Mr Reatile also wanted to know if the minister was aware that Debswana and OEM had absorbed some of their staff from OLM operations and left former Majwe employees. He wanted to know what the minister intended to do with former Majwe Mining employees who were not employed. ENDS