Amplats to court over debt orders

Klerksdorp-based law firm Hannetjie van der Merwe and HVDM Administrators are pocketing 44 percent of the money Amplats is deducting from the seven workers' salaries to repay their debt, Amplats executive head Chris Griffith says in papers filed in the High Court in Pretoria.

He argues this happens because legal fees for debt administration are outsourced. 

 

These costs are then added to the outstanding debt.

 

Although the law allows this in some cases, Griffith argues it may not be done.

 

Amplats and the seven workers want debt administration, as determined by the Magistrate's Court Act, declared unconstitutional.

 

Hannetjie Piennar, the founder and head of the law firm and HVDM, argues the fees are in strictly in accordance with the Magistrate's Court Act.

 

It is believed the debt trap in which many mineworkers found themselves contributed to the labour unrest in the North West platinum belt in 2012.

 

Police shot dead 34 Lonmin miners in Marikana on August 16 that year.

 

They were striking for their monthly wage to be increased to R12,500.

 

(File photo: Gallo Images)