Thousands of mineworkers have been affected by mounting debt and growing garnishee orders. The prospect of financial freedom often seems unattainable, a problem that we’re addressing through our employee indebtedness programme.
Since the programme started, together with our partners, we’ve helped our employees save over R3 million, which would otherwise have been consumed by garnishee orders. In fact, the financial wellbeing solution has managed to reduce debt commitments from 54% to 28% of net income, resulting in a monthly improvement in disposable income of roughly R3 000 per month per employee.
Patrick Morutlwa, general manager at Anglo American Platinum’s Dishaba mine has been at the forefront of promoting our employee indebtedness programme to help employees become debt-free and financially secure. This ultimately improves productivity, and contributes to the wellbeing of employees, their families and communities.
Indebtedness is something that has personally affected Patrick. Raised by a single mother, he understands all too well the trials and tribulations that come with struggling to make ends meet.
“I saw my mother come home month after month with little more than 30% of her wages to try and keep us alive,” says Patrick. “That’s when I realised that you have to be able to manage your finances.”
When it comes to our business, Patrick believes that indebtedness is something that hampers employee morale in a big way.
“When employees are taking home a payslip of zero, you can’t expect them to be fully focused. They are too busy thinking about how they’re going to feed their families. There’s just no joy, I think that’s how indebtedness manifests itself. There’s no passion to do the job.”
Patrick says that employees can play their part by being upfront with their manager when faced with financial difficulties.
“These problems affect your productivity and safety at work, which also impacts your team mates. The onus is on the employee to come forward because help is here,” he says.
The growing number of emolument attachment orders (EMOs) – or garnishee orders as they’re more commonly known – issued by the courts against our employees’ pay is a clear sign that the problem is rife.
It’s not only our employees who suffer. The consequences of the excessive debt spirals into financial and emotional distress for families and communities, and often negatively impacts labour relations when the debt becomes unmanageable.
Indebtedness is not only confined to those on lower pay scales. “This is a problem that transcends all levels of income,” says Patrick. “It has nothing to do with levels of income. It is a common problem because some of the people that enrolled for this programme were chief supervisors who are getting good pay but are having these issues. It’s a national problem, the more people earn the more they find themselves in debt.”
Patrick sees our indebtedness programme as a way organisations should be supporting their employees. “We’re not going to rest until the majority of our employees are financially independent. It’s a journey, it’s not just going to take a year or two, but it’s a start.”
With the Anglo American indebtedness programme in place, a new generation of employees will be trained on financial management. Patrick lives with the hope that 10 years from now, debt will no longer be much of an issue as employees become financially independent.
Andile Sangqu, Executive Head of Anglo American in South Africa says, “While employee indebtedness is a national issue prevalent across the pay scale, the mining industry is particularly affected. It is for this reason therefore that, as a Group, we took the decision to launch a programme that will see our employees fully rehabilitated from debt. By helping them reduce and eliminate their debt, we believe that the quality of their lives and that of their families will improve.”
Read how our indebtedness programme helped Sarah Motuku, Loco Driver at our Siphumelele mine regain control of her finances and her life.