BMWU doubts govt's commitment to reopen BCL mines
Chakalisa Dube | Friday November 9, 2018 12:46
The union’s president Jack Tlhagale was responding to the State Of the Nation Address (SONA) delivered by President Mokgweetsi Masisi on Monday.
It is almost three years since Tati Nickel Mining Company (TNMC) and BCL Mine -the two entities under the BCL Group - were controversially closed by the government.
This led to widespread anger and frustration from residents of Francistown as well as Selebi-Phikwe where the two mines operated respectively.
In his maiden SONA, President Masisi said that the BCL Mine is under final liquidation whilst TNMC is under provisional liquidation.
This is a similar stance that has often been uttered by the government since the closure of the mines in late 2015.
“Liquidation is a judicial process which takes time. However, I am happy to indicate that government has set-up a technical committee to work with the liquidator to enable it to have technical input, especially in mining matters. We believe this will protect the interests of government whilst improving liaison with the liquidator,” Masisi said.
The union has often maintained that the mines need to reopen, so that the people of Selebi-Phikwe and Francistown can have a source of revenue to boost their economies.
“What we wanted to hear in the SONA was a plan as to how and when the two mines are going to re-open. One would have thought that the President’s speech would deliver an implementation plan as to how the mine would be re-opened, but he repeated what has already been said before. We are very disappointed,” he said.
Tlhagale added: “We are not saying the government should re-open and run the mine, but the President should have at least given us a tangible plan as to when the government intends to see the mines running again (by an interested investor) and how those interested in running the mines will be assisted to open them”.
Tlhagale said that the level of uncertainty surrounding activities of the BCL Mine has aggravated the pain that residents of Selebi-Phikwe and Francistown are going through following the closure of the mines.
“What we have always known is that the government and some mining experts have maintained that the BCL Group is profitable, but what worries us is that there seems to be no commitment to re-open the mine by government.”
Tlhagale also said that he had hoped that Masisi would apologise for closing the BCL Mine and TNMC in his SONA.
“As per admission of some key government officials and experts, we all know that the decision to close the mines was not an ideal one.
The mines could have been restructured to ensure that they return to profitability. Masisi was one of those who played a key role in the closure of the mines and it would have made sense for him to use his maiden SONA speech to apologise and admit the mistakes made by the government,” Tlhagale said.
When government closed the mines, other stakeholders strongly averred that the mines could have undergone restructuring and continued operating.
On Tuesday this week, the Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Duma Boko also said that the government owes the people of Selebi-Phikwe, Mmadinare and Tswapong villages candour and contrition regarding the closure of the BCL Mine in Selebi-Phikwe.
Just like Tlhagale, Boko said that Masisi could have used the SONA as an opportunity to apologise for the closure of the mines most particularly, BCL Mine.
“The President found space in his SONA for micro projects in other areas but could not find space to openly and publicly apologise to, and empathise with the people of Selebi-Phikwe, Bobonong, Mmadinare and Tswapong over the government’s ill-advised and premature termination of the mainstay of their economy.”
Nigel Dixon-Warren, who is the liquidator of the mine, was quoted by Mmegi recently stating that 180 interested parties have so far approached him to buy the BCL Group.
He said that he rejected them, as they did not meet the standard requirements.
There have also been widespread rumours that the government has become increasingly frustrated by the time it has taken for the liquidator to sell the mine.
The closure of BCL and TNMC left nearly 5,000 people jobless. The BCL Mine in Selebi Phikwe employed the majority of the workers.
The economies of Francistown and Selebi-Phikwe as well as their surrounding areas were drastically affected by the closure of the mines.