"Just give us our monies" - BCL miners tell Masisi

Miners at the troubled BCL mine say that the company should just give them their money so  that they can leave.

When The Midweek Sun arrived at Selibe Phikwe Stadium Tuesday this week where the miners were waiting for Vice President Mokgweetsi Masisi to address them, grief was written all over their faces.

About 3000 miners attended the meeting hoping that the VP would tell them what the future held for them at the mine, which has just been placed under provisional liquidation. They waited under the scotching sun for close to two hours before Masisi could arrive. Mmopi Moeyane has been working at the troubled BCL for over 30 years as Cock driver. He told this publication that he has long given up on BCL because for a long time it has been making a loss. “I have no trust in the current leadership of the mine because they are not telling us what is going on. I am ready to go back to Serowe because there is no life here,” said the 50-year old father of three.

When addressing miners, Masisi assured them that they would receive their October salaries but could not commit himself as to what will happen to the other months saying they will wait for the liquidator. “The Vice President has failed to tell us what is going to happen to our money. We want to be given our packages and leave the company because BCL is finished,” said Moipoloki Motsamai, an Operation Two Boilermaker. He has been employed at the BCL since 2009.

He said just like his colleagues, they knew that at one point BCL would close. “The problem is that they are refusing to tell us how they are going to pay us.  What we want is our money because I cannot stay in Phikwe while unemployed,” he said. Masisi told them that BCL has been operating on debts for long and the government tried to save it but in vain. “Just two weeks ago an emergency request was made that BCL be given the sum of P1billion to pay some debts and salaries. We have tried everything we could  to save the mine,” said Masisi.

Another employee, Lazarus Megala, said when he saw where the mine was headed he invested in farming and upgraded his education. “I have also saved a lot of money to survive. But just like my colleagues, I am also disappointed. A lot of families are going to suffer because their lives depended on the mine. This is a big blow for all residents of Phikwe and surrounding areas,” he said.