Mupane, owned by Hawks Mining, a citizen company, has not been operating since March this year owing to serious cash flow problems. Since then, the company’s employees have been lying idle at home without pay. Mupane reportedly owe creditors money exceeding P50 million including the Botswana Power Corporation (BPC). Some of the creditors are pushing for the liquidation of the mine. The government has also declined calls by the Botswana Mine Workers Union (BMWU) that it should consider bailing out the mine by purchasing shares through the Mineral Development Company (MDC).
The latest development at Mupane was confirmed by the BMWU secretary-general (SG), Mbiganyi Gaekgotswe, in an interview with Mmegi yesterday. Gaekgotswe said the contracts of 205 employees directly employed by Mupane have been terminated. Hundreds of employees of firms subcontracted to Mupane also lost their jobs when the company unceremoniously ceased operations in March. “The contracts of the employees were terminated on the 31st of July 2024 after consultation with the employer. All the 205 employees directly employed by the mine were retrenched. No one was spared,” he said in an interview. Gaekgotswe added that the directors of the mine have not shared details about the future of the mine, amid reports that there are interested investors. Sources say that efforts to reopen the mine will take some time, even when an ideal investor is found because of the amount of preparatory works that must be done (to facilitate the reopening). Additionally, attempts to reopen the mine have failed on several occasions in the past because the management could not reach a tangible agreement with potential investors. “The agreement with the employer was that the terminal benefits of the employees will be paid during the month of August and until September. At the moment, none of the employees have received their terminal benefits,” he said. Gaekgotswe emphasised that the employees will be paid in line with a long existing retrenchment agreement between the union and management. “We are hopeful that the employer will honour all the tenets of the retrenchment agreement including payment of the workers,” he said.
