Tuesday, 10th May 2005 (2609 views)

The Competition Tribunal in Pretoria, South Africa heard from lawyers representing Gold Fields yesterday, who said that allowing a hostile takeover by rival Harmony was not in the public interest.

In their closing arguments, the lawyers claimed that a merger could be detrimental to the gold-mining industry and to the 1,500 Gold Fields employees who stand to lose their jobs.

Lawyer Jeremy Guantlett argued that the employees are not "golf playing ornaments" but people, who may not be facing poverty but do not deserve to be dismissed.

"They are human beings. There is no justification for it. There is no rationale," Mr Gauntlett told the tribunal, according to Business Day.

Gold Fields itself is reluctant to comply with the job losses, which would be imposed on them by Harmony in the event of a takeover.

The mining company is asking the tribunal either to disallow the takeover, or impose stringent conditions.

 

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