Harmony Gold chair Patrice Motsepe and CEO Peter Steenkamp were on the defensive at the company’s annual general meeting after another poor year for deaths at its operations.
SA’s mine deaths are down 45% so far this year on the 81 fatalities recorded in 2018.
Fatalities at Harmony in the 2019 financial year to end-June stood at 11 compared with 13 the year before, prompting shareholder activist Theo Botha to grill the company’s leadership on its efforts to mine good safely.
Botha said that in a decade 127 people had died on Harmony's mines. “Surely ... you must acknowledge that the company has failed to protect employees when it comes to their safety,” Botha said at the meeting.
He also asked how the families of deceased miners were compensated by the company.
Botha again urged Harmony to give fuller reports on causes of deaths, showing where accountability could be allocated and what was done to avert more fatal events.
“The entire issue of fatalities is an absolutely crucial thing,” said Motsepe. “They lost their lives at our operations and we take responsibility. We have to ask ourselves in the first instance: what did we not do correctly or what must we do differently?
Steenkamp said Harmony embarked on a five-year programme to instil a safety culture at its mines. Work started about 18 months ago. “We are on track,” he said.
Of the 11 fatalities in financial 2019, four were a result of falls of ground, of which two were caused by seismic events which are hard to predict and protect workers against, particularly deep underground.
Motsepe said it could not apportion blame or accountability in its annual reports, needing to wait for courts to decide on events and decide on what the liability, if any, there was to pay by Harmony.
Botha has argued that the younger the worker the larger the compensation should be to their families to make up for years of lost earnings.
Steenkamp said that Harmony made compensation payments in line with regulations as well as ensuring education for children was paid for, with regular contacts with families. Motsepe said there were instances of the company going above and beyond what it was obliged to pay.
“I’ve been at many meetings post-fatalities. It’s a very, very emotional experience. You are looking at the widow, the mother, the children in the eyes,” Motsepe said.
“Sometimes, we’ve given more than what the level of obligation was because you’ve got thousands of workers there and they’re looking at you. It’s not just about your policies and what you stand for. It’s about your commitment to them.”
Botha said six Harmony directors were 70 and older, quizzing Motsepe on a succession plan. The question that was left largely unanswered.
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