Chaos at Kayelekera

Paladin Africa Limited, which is mining uranium at Kayelekera in Karonga, has foreigners working full-time in its rank and file without temporary employment permits (TEPs), Nation on Sunday has established.

Some of these expatriates are using temporary residence permits (TRPs) that have outlived their lifespan whereas others are still at the mine despite the Immigration Department rejecting their permit applications.

But an official record of 98 expatriates at Kayelekera shows that some of them have used TRPs for well over two years now despite the Immigration Department stating that a TRP, which lasts six months, can only be renewed once.

Our investigations also revealed that some foreigners are in menial jobs such as welding, fitting, plumbing, secretarial, mechanics, building, security, carpentry and catering, which locals can ably do—contrary to legal provisions of the land.

This is also in contravention of the agreement Paladin signed with Malawi Government prior to mining kick-off.

Among other things, the agreement states that the Australian company should employ foreigners only if it cannot get local skilled labour.

Our investigations so far reveal that in some junior positions, Paladin has retrenched Malawians to bring in expatriates from South Africa and Australia.

Asked to explain why it allows expatriates without proper papers, the Malawi Immigration Department argues that some expatriates without TEPs are using TRPs authorised by the department because they are key positions.

While acknowledging that TRPs have a six-month lifespan only renewable once— meaning they can only be used for 12 months— Immigration spokesperson Martha Sanyala-Gonondo insisted this week: “The chief immigration officer has authority to allow key personnel to start work while their permits are under process. Much as the department wishes to have all foreigners to have work permits before they take up employment posts in Malawi, it is not always possible because of the bureaucracy that exists within the system which leads to delays in issuing the permits.”

She added that the Immigration Department conducts routine checks subject to availability of resources to verify the status of expatriates.

“If we find out that some of the expatriates are working without approval from the chief immigration officer we will apprehend them straight away. Still, the department carries out quarterly routine inspection when the resources are available,” said Sanyala-Gonondo.

Working without TEP

Our investigations discovered a list of 98 expatriates at Kayelekera, some of whom have been working without TEPs for over a year now.

Others came to Malawi as consultants but they are now working full time at the uranium mine.

Documents seen at the Ministry of Home Affairs show that as at June 27 2013, the ministry was yet to approve TEPs for Jacobus lodewikus, Peter Joseph Duffield, Michael A.V Crawford, Thomas Macnicol Henderson and Keegan Brits.

Yet, all these were already working at Kayelekera, according to well-placed sources.

“All these names, their TEPs have not been finally processed and approved; hence, we expect them not to work until such a time when approval comes,” said a senior officer at the ministry.

There are also some whose TEP applications and renewals the Immigration Department rejected but they are still working at Kayelekera.

We have seen an official chart showing expatriate status at Kayelekera which corroborates that Kobbie Cilliers, Mercia Janet Cilliers, Clinton Collard and Etienne Bath had their TEPs rejected in April this year but they are still working at Kayelekera.

Collard is a senior instrumentation technician, probably a skill that may not be found locally; but Kobie Cilliers is an accounts supervisor and Mercia Cilliers is a travel coordinator, skills readily available in Malawi.

We also established that all these have been in Malawi for more than a year working without TEPs.

Paladin human resources manager at Kayelekera, Miriam Miranda, came in as a consultant but has been working without a TEP for more than a year using TRP number 90286 valid until August 14 this year.

There are several others on the Kayelekera expatriates status chart working in positions whose skills are readily available in Malawi.

Laurent Mathieu is head chef whereas Mirriam Joabert is assistant chef, yet according to Malawi Institute of Tourism (MIT), Malawi trains enough chefs capable of working at any level.

“If you interview most of the chefs working with Sunbird, Protea Ryalls and other hotels they will tell you that they studied at MIT,” said Tamanda Chakhumbira, MIT training manager.

The school trains chefs who pursue courses such as food production, hospitality and tourism management as well as hotel management.

“We train over 50 chefs in a year who are readily offered employment by the industry,” said Chakhumbira.

Other expatriates working in jobs Malawians can do at Kayelekera include Alwena Viviers, personal assistant to the general manager, Ben Coetzee (general warehouse supervisor), Peter Duffield (security manager), Doug Mcgibbon (security consultant/manager) and Peter Harris (stores supervisor).

Then there are welders Brighton Gwafa and Tawanda Gutu, fitters Pieter Marais, Werner Coetzee, Tony Salgado and Willem Louwrens whereas Johan Smit is a stores supervisor.

In our investigations, we discovered that in some of these positions, Paladin has had to retrench under-studies to extend expatriates’ stay, or import new ones.

At the launch of a research paper funded by Norwegian Church Aid, Paladin general manager Greg Walker said Kayelekera was a loss-making business venture; hence, justified some job cuts but defended use of expatriates, arguing Malawi lacks these skills.

According to the Ministry of Trade, Malawi’s expatriates’ policy says that foreigners should not replace locals.

But in January this year, Paladin retrenched Mulinda Chawinga who worked as a diesel mechanic and replaced him with Andrew van der Merwe.

Charlie Croft was meant to leave at the end of his contract, but when Paladin retrenched fitter Chabuka Kamwendo, Croft took up the position, thereby extending his stay in Malawi.

Chef Louise Phiri was retrenched only to be replaced by expatriate Laurent Mithieu.

McDonald Jere, who worked as warehouse coordinator and an understudy of Alistair Barbour, who heads that section, was retrenched and Jere’s former subordinate Ben Coetzee took charge.

Their retrenchment letters cited poor business performance by the company as reasons for its decision.

In a telephone conversation yesterday, Walker—Paladin’s general manager for international affairs—acknowledged receiving questions we e-mailed him last week to comment on our findings.

But Walker said he would not answer because he “already sent a letter to Nation on these matters.”

He claimed to have sent the letter to an editor at Nation Publications Limited (NPL), but could not specify which of the editors he dealt with. NPL has not received the letter. n