Kebonang calls for BCL revival contributions

434,Pini Bothoko,php3A86.tmp.jpg, | Monday May 30, 2016 00:00

Kebonang said this while addressing councillors who had summoned him to seek clarity on several factors surrounding the closure of TNMC, a subsidiary of BCL.

The closure of TNMC has impacted badly on the city’s economy as it left around 700 people jobless.

Kebonang said the decision to revive the mines is important to the country’s economy, but unfortunately government does not have enough money to revitalise them.

He said all citizens should consider ways in which they can help government revive the fallen mines.

“I think the time is now for you to consider contributing towards the revival of these mines because government alone cannot afford to do so. If every citizen was to consider contributing P500 per month towards the revival of these mines we might find the solution to this problem,” Kebonang said.

The minister said he is aware that everyone is concerned about the closure of the mines and the situation that the former employees are faced with hence the need to help government come to their aid.

“This is the first time for a fully government owned mine to collapse, but you should know that the decision to close down the mines comes a long way and we could have not put them under liquidation if it was vital,” Kebonang said.

He said BCL would have required around P8 billion to keep it running, an option that would have crippled the economy.

“BCL needs a cash injection of P1 billion to survive despite that it was granted a P1billion loan by Barclays Bank with government as a guarantor,” Kebonang said.

Kebonang said for the past 20 years, BCL  has not been doing well except for a short period when commodity prices were high something that affected TNMC because it is owned by BCL.

He stated that government remained the sole shareholder of BCL and is awaiting the liquidator’s recommendations on the way forward.

“The liquidator is currently assessing the situation to see whether he can reorganise it and if he cannot, then look at winding it down. We do not know what tomorrow holds, but there are three investors who have shown interest in buying the mine and if they can do so we would encourage them to re-employ you,” Kebonang said.

He said people should understand that BCL is an old underground mine that was mining a low-grade ore in the midst of unfavourable market prices.

“The mine once considered acquiring 50% shareholding in Nkomati Mine, but due to a decline in copper prices, they failed to pay them P3 billion to acquire those shares,” Kebonang said.

The minister gave assurance that around P700 million was recently given to the liquidator to pay former employees’ terminal benefits.

“I can assure you that money is available, but it is a process because terminal benefits are calculated according to how much is owed to the people and their individual period of engagement with the company,” Kebonang explained.