Publications
Partners
Johannesburg - If he were a mine manager, he would have refused to enforce garnishee orders against miners' wages, chairperson of Business Leadership South Africa Bobby Godsell told Sake24.
"I would have said, sorry Capitec or whoever, I'm not your debt collector - you granted that debt, go and collect it yourself. Take me to court if you want, but I am not going to do it," Godsell said at the Joburg Indaba for the mining industry on Wednesday.
It became clear towards the end of last year that miners' debt levels had skyrocketed in recent years; this had played an enormous role in the unrest that led to the Marikana massacre, and contributed to the excessive wage demands and violence increasingly becoming part of the collective bargaining process.
Some investigators found that 15% of workers in shafts at platinum mines received virtually no money on pay day, because everything was paid over to money lenders.
A great deal of evidence relating to this matter also has to be submitted to the Farlam Commission on the Marikana massacre, but this is not happening because of the delays in the hearings of the commission.
It is a source of great frustration for many experts who are examining the underlying reasons for Marikana and had prepared evidence about the matter.
"I think there should be a national debate about garnishee orders against workers' wages," Godsell said.
He lambasted those mine bosses who had allowed garnishee orders to get out of hand.
"In a sensible world with responsible citizens, it would not happen that a miner takes home just 20% of his gross wage without his supervisor knowledge. The payroll cannot be some mysterious piece of paper run by a contractor to cut costs, " said Godsell.
"It's easy to say afterwards: yes, it's Amcu, the Economic Freedom Fighters and politicians, but these things are happening in our own backyards.
"Miners are among the best paid workforce in South Africa. If they have problems with poverty, then it is imperative that we find out why this is the case."
Take a hard look at executive pay
He also believes more thought should be given to executives' compensation.
"I don't sit and worry about the levels of executive compensation. What bothers me is the combination of fixed remuneration and variable remuneration. In some cases, variable remuneration is 80 % of the total compensation and the fixed amount is only 20%. This means the compensation will vary a lot from year to year, but it does not seem to vary much.
"When I was CEO of a gold miner, there were two factors that affected the share prices most: the dollar price of gold and the exchange rate of the rand against the US dollar. I had no impact on either of those two.
"I am in favour of a system where CEO compensation is completely reconsidered, so that we could stand in front of shareholders without hesitation and justify our wages fully," he said.
* For more business news in Afrikaans, see Sake24.com.
"I would have said, sorry Capitec or whoever, I'm not your debt collector - you granted that debt, go and collect it yourself. Take me to court if you want, but I am not going to do it," Godsell said at the Joburg Indaba for the mining industry on Wednesday.
It became clear towards the end of last year that miners' debt levels had skyrocketed in recent years; this had played an enormous role in the unrest that led to the Marikana massacre, and contributed to the excessive wage demands and violence increasingly becoming part of the collective bargaining process.
Some investigators found that 15% of workers in shafts at platinum mines received virtually no money on pay day, because everything was paid over to money lenders.
A great deal of evidence relating to this matter also has to be submitted to the Farlam Commission on the Marikana massacre, but this is not happening because of the delays in the hearings of the commission.
It is a source of great frustration for many experts who are examining the underlying reasons for Marikana and had prepared evidence about the matter.
"I think there should be a national debate about garnishee orders against workers' wages," Godsell said.
He lambasted those mine bosses who had allowed garnishee orders to get out of hand.
"In a sensible world with responsible citizens, it would not happen that a miner takes home just 20% of his gross wage without his supervisor knowledge. The payroll cannot be some mysterious piece of paper run by a contractor to cut costs, " said Godsell.
"It's easy to say afterwards: yes, it's Amcu, the Economic Freedom Fighters and politicians, but these things are happening in our own backyards.
"Miners are among the best paid workforce in South Africa. If they have problems with poverty, then it is imperative that we find out why this is the case."
Take a hard look at executive pay
He also believes more thought should be given to executives' compensation.
"I don't sit and worry about the levels of executive compensation. What bothers me is the combination of fixed remuneration and variable remuneration. In some cases, variable remuneration is 80 % of the total compensation and the fixed amount is only 20%. This means the compensation will vary a lot from year to year, but it does not seem to vary much.
"When I was CEO of a gold miner, there were two factors that affected the share prices most: the dollar price of gold and the exchange rate of the rand against the US dollar. I had no impact on either of those two.
"I am in favour of a system where CEO compensation is completely reconsidered, so that we could stand in front of shareholders without hesitation and justify our wages fully," he said.
* For more business news in Afrikaans, see Sake24.com.
