Page 8 - 100 years of Anglo American

Mining:

A FAMILY

AFFAIR

Ephraim Mello worked on a mine

for more than two decades and

now his son, nephews and niece

have taken over the baton,
writes Lucas Ledwaba

phraim Mello walks into the living Limpopo. A difficult period followed, during
room smiling broadly. He is which he could not provide for his family.
holding four certificates that he Mello’s wife Raesibe remembers those days with
earned during his 23 years sadness.
working at the biggest open-pit At the time, the family lived in a ramshackle
Eplatinum mine in the world – zinc shack and struggled to make ends meet –
Mogalakwena Platinum Mine in Limpopo. Mello had been the only breadwinner as
Mello (63) qualified as an operator of some of Raesibe raised their five children and tended to
the mine’s big roaring machines: the front-end the family’s vegetable fields.
loader, excavator, surface loader and surface Raesibe says: “Life was hard before he got
truck. this job. He had looked for work for a long
Mogalakwena Platinum Mine – Anglo time. We depended on my mother sending us
American Platinum’s flagship operation in the money, but that was not enough to raise our
portfolio – is situated in the Mogalakwena Local children”.
Municipality in Limpopo’s Waterberg district. Then, in the middle of 1993, Mello’s experience
Mello started working at the mine shortly on the gold mines helped him land a job at
after it was established in 1993. In 2015, at the Mogalakwena mine. The Mellos’ lives took a
age of 61, he retired to his home village of turn for the better.
Motlhotlo, near the mine. “With the money I earned at Anglo American
But that didn’t spell the end of his family’s Platinum, I managed to send my children to
ties with the mining giant he used to work for. school. I managed to feed and clothe them,”
He lives in a spacious brick house built for him says Mello. He remembers a time when the landscape
by Anglo American Platinum in Rooibokpan, a Anglo American Platinum has paid part of did not yet feature the landmarks of mining.
new township development about 7km from the tuition fees for the Mellos’ 23-year-old “You see those hills over there?” he points
Motlhotlo. The house formed part of a daughter Mmabatho to go to a further westwards, where the mine dumps tower over
relocation deal entered into by the mining education and training college, where she is the land and cast long shadows in the late
company and the residents of Motlhotlo. studying business management. winter afternoon.
It doesn’t end there. His son, David, is now He looks back on his time creating what has “They [mine dumps] were not there when I
employed at the mine as a plant operator. His become the biggest open-pit platinum mine in started working for Anglo American Platinum. I
nephews, Phološo and Bethuel, and niece the world with pride. used to dump [the gravel] there. I was the best
Mamoraka have also followed in Mello’s “We worked very well with no problems. I truck operator because I worked very fast. My
footsteps. Phološo and Bethuel work as truck was not the kind of person to stay away from colleagues could not understand how I
operators, while Mamoraka is a plant operator. work for no reason. I was dedicated. That is managed to do so many loads in one day,” he
They are all the breadwinners for their why I trained to operate different types of says with a smile of satisfaction.
respective families. machines and earned these certificates,” he says, Those days are behind him now and only
Mello worked at the gold mines in smiling proudly and pointing to the documents memories of roaring machines remain.
Johannesburg from the mid-1970s, but, in 1991, laid out on the coffee table that are imprinted The new generation of Phološo (30) and
he was retrenched and returned home to with an Anglo American logo. David (32) are creating their own memories.
8 ANGLO AMERICAN 100 YEARS