[miningmx.com] — TRADE union Solidarity this week asked the South African Revenue Service (Sars) to probe alleged mismanagement of funds by Aurora Empowerment Systems.
The request for an investigation follows allegations that the mining company owned by President Jacob Zuma’s nephew, Khulubuse Zuma, and Nelson Mandela’s grandson, Zondwa Mandela, collected Unemployment Insurance Fund and Pay As You Earn contributions from its employees but failed to pay the money over to Sars, the government authority that collects those funds on behalf of the Department of Labour.
The department had earlier this year referred both matters to Sars for investigation.
Sars spokesperson Adriaan Lackay said Sars did not comment on matters under investigation.
Gideon du Plessis, deputy general secretary of Solidarity, was unhappy about the manner in which the government has been treating the workers’ pay issue.
The department had in March issued Aurora with a compliance order to pay staff within 21 working days.
However, Aurora failed to meet its deadline, according to Du Plessis.
“The department had promised in March that it would investigate all the salary complaints and take Aurora to the Labour Court for failing to comply with the compliance order,’ he said.
A month ago the department met with the unions and told them they should instead try to resolve the salary complaints on their own. This response angered the unions and they accused the government of having wasted the workers’ time.
“The department only told us a month ago that they will no longer be pursuing the matter. We feel this has wasted six months that could have been spent at the Labour Court fighting this salary issue,’ said Du Plessis.
Department spokesperson Page Boikanyo said Aurora had paid 100% of August and 68% of July salaries to Care and Maintenance employees. They are helping the mine avert an environmental disaster by draining the water out of the mine and ensuring acid water does not spill into the neighbourhood.
“These amounts were included in the amended compliance order dated October 7 that was issued by the department of labour for non-payment of wages, which indicated partial compliance by the employer,’ said Boikanyo.
– City Press
