Sibanye-Stillwater CEO’s reported R300 million award a direct insult to the poor mineworkers

Press Statement, 28 April 2022

Sibanye-Stillwater CEO’s reported R300 million award a direct insult to the poor mineworkers

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) is highly disgusted and disturbed by the media reports which state that Sibanye-Stillwater CEO Neal Froneman has been awarded an astounding R300 million salary in 2021 while the company’s employees are out in the cold, fighting for a mere R1000 in wage increase.

This is happening in the middle of a wage increase strike by thousands of workers and this clearly demonstrates how companies such as Sibanye-Stillwater could be so cruel and insensitive towards its employees. All that is a direct insult to the poor mineworkers and their families.

How can one person get R300 million while his staff get next to nothing? This is capitalist barbarism and cruelty at its best. Mineworkers are further being pushed into poverty because of people of Froneman’s calibre.

The so-called captains of the industry continued to award themselves with huge salaries and bonuses at the expense of blood and sweat of mineworkers who are earning slavery wages.

We are calling on both the offices of President Cyril Ramaphosa and the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (as the industry regulator) to urgently intervene and resolve the current labour dispute at Sibanye-Stillwater.

The NUM will not spare any cent to relieve the workers from the shackles of Froneman. We will not allow him to continue to exploit workers by using the minerals that belong to the people of this country.

For more detailed information, please contact:

William Mabapa, NUM General Secretary, 082 880 4439
Luphert Chilwane, NUM Media Officer, 083 809 3255