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Griffith said Anglo American announced the review of the platinum operations at the beginning of 2012. This coincided
with an industry analysis by the platinum industry task team to talk about structural changes in the sector. ' So this is
likely to be a difficult period. I don't think anyone expected either government or unions or ourselves or civil society
to say it's a good idea that we have retrenchments.'
'But the fact is that if we don't do something about the company eventually 60 000 people in the company will have no
employment. We seek to work with our stakeholders. If some of our stakeholders are feeling uncomfortable about
that we need to sit down with them and work through that. And if there are difficulties we need to patch those up.'
Peter Major from Cadiz Asset management commented that it would be hard to make everyone happy. 'All industries
have gone through this computer, airlines, and definitely automobiles. And so this is a natural part of capitalism.'
He even speculated tongue in cheek that there might be room for nationalisation. 'There's going to be four shafts
available and they said they are going to be looking for a buyer for Union section. How open is government to that?'
Major added that it would be difficult for other stakeholders to influence the implementation of the plan. 'Anglos have
put a lot of work in this and they have thought of all the alternatives. What makes it a little bit sad is it's too hard for
the other roleplayers to completely change. You've had 10 years of double and triple the inflationary cost increases
on the platinum mines. That is really entrenched. It's in the DNA of everybody's system government, labour and the
company. And so I think it's a little too late for the employees to say OK, we'll bend now. Or for government to say
we'll do anything you need just don't close those shafts.'
Earlier Shabangu said she was very disappointed by Anglo Platinum's announcement, as the company did not engage
the department. 'They made the announcement before engaging us. I must indicate that Anglo Platinum contacted us
last week on Tuesday and requested a meeting. They wanted to meet today (Tuesday). Then yesterday (Monday)
they said they wanted to meet yesterday, as if I am waiting for them while I am doing other work. I really feel that
they are undermining the relationship between us and them.'
Shabangu said Anglo Platinum's announcement creates more uncertainty among foreign investors. 'In the past we
would talk and engage about issues before we go public. In this case Anglo Platinum was unilateral. They said last
year that they will engage on the issues, but they only gave us seven days. It is bad faith . . . Anglo has operated in
SA for many years. What is their agenda and intention to behave in this fashion?'
This follows Amplats' announcement that it plans to close four shafts in the Rustenburg area and sell its Union mine.
These plans are all the result of a review of its operations undertaken by its parent Anglo American in a bid to return
the company to longterm profitability and are expected to affect as many as 14,000 jobs, 13,000 of which will be in
the Rustenburg area.
These steps would deliver R3.8bn in cost savings by 2015."
[41] Mr Van Niekerk wrote Moneyweb 5 based on an interview done by a Moneyweb journalist, Mr Hilton Tarrant,
with Mr Chris Griffith, the Chief Executive Officer of Amplats. The interview had aired on 15 January 2013 on
the radio programme SAfm Market Update.
[42] The interview was recorded and transcribed by Moneyweb. Mr Van Niekerk used the transcript of the sound
recording to source quotes from Mr Griffith. Ms Seggie then edited the article and wrote the headline and sub
headline before it was published.
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[43] Mr Van Niekerk explains how he went about constructing Moneyweb 5. He says that he listened to the sound
recording and went through the entire interview to extract the most salient quotes. He describes the
interview as "indepth" but does not indicate the length of the interview or the transcript. He does say that
he sought to "extract the most salient quotes", implying that he applied his mind and excluded that which he
did not need for purposes of his article.
[44] In my view, Mr Van Niekerk applied his mind to the transcript and sought to write an article that captured the
essence of the interview with Mr Griffith. Mr Puckrin submitted that Moneyweb ought to have produced the
transcript in evidence. I do not agree. Just as Mr Sidorski was able to testify to what he saw, so too can
Mr Van Niekerk. His evidence that he read the entire transcript and selected what he believed to be the most
salient quotes stands uncontested. I note too that, although Moneyweb 5 is focused on the interview with
Mr Griffith, it also contains input from other sources, ie Minister Shabangu and Mr Peter Major.
[45] It is clear that Mr Van Niekerk has not slavishly copied from the transcript. In the circumstances, I am satisfied
that Moneyweb has proved that Moneyweb 5 is an original work.
The sixth article: "Defencex mastermind rallies support"
[46] I shall refer to this article as Moneyweb 6. It was published on 9 March 2013 at 3:07pm and was written by
Mr Malcolm Rees, an employee of Moneyweb who was responsible for writing articles for publication on its
website. I have set out the article below and underlined those parts that were reproduced in the related
Fin24 article.
"Defencex mastermind rallies support
Walker calls for calm and support, following a vague, brief explanation.
Over a thousand ardent supporters of the embattled Defencex scheme flocked to the Linder Auditorium on the Wits
Education campus on Saturday to hear Chris Walker, the scheme's mastermind, speak.
Those who managed to gain entry to the fullybooked auditorium had paid an alleged R1 000 a ticket to hear Walker's
fiveminute explanation of exactly what had gone wrong with his 2%aday investment initiative.