Moseamedi Molin
The issue of employment from Bokoni Platinum Mine is a major concern for Maruping and Mogabane residents. The main thing is that mine gives out job opportunities but Maruping and Mogabane don’t get any opportunities. There was a community meeting on 14 July 2024 at Phoko Primary School, where the community gathered for a community meeting and people showed up in droves to hear the call.
The new leaders informed the community that they went to Bokoni Platinum Mine to ask about the job opportunities that were coming out but not for the local community. They found out there were posts at the mine, they were informed by the old committee that the community removed them as community leaders because they were selling jobs from the mine. The committee said that one of the mine leaders told them that the community should be united and work together because this creates conflict and grudges between the mine and the community, as the community feels like mine has no services.
The community was angry when they heard that the previous committee they fired sold jobs.
The community agreed that those who wanted to get jobs should come to the school and work with them because the group that went with the old committee did not attend the meeting at the school as they went to Manong ground. The community said they have not refused assistance but do not want the old committee to represent them at Bokoni platinum mine as they have elected a new committee that wants them and they are the ones who will represent them.
On 15 July all the groups met and agreed that they should work together because they were hampering the community to get jobs from the mine as they were split in two. They met and after the meeting sent leaders to Bokoni to inform them of the situation that they were able to communicate and they would be one team, Bokoni Mine gave them tasks to deliver to the community, and there was a meeting again where they went to assign jobs to the community.
I interviewed one of the people who attended the meeting. I asked him how he felt about this situation. He said, “It is hard for us because we wish we could find work, we are struggling to find jobs yet we live close to the mine”.
