Chamber happy with progress in mining sector

Exactly one year after Ms Susan Shabangu, mineral resources minister, addressed the issue of transformation in the mining industry during a black business awards ceremony in Boksburg, it seems as if the Chamber of Mines of SA believed they have succeeded and her words didn’t fall on deaf ears.

This came after an announcement they recently made during the Annual General Meeting stating that “the mining industry is currently the most transformed of all the country’s major industries.” Looking back at the turbulence made in the mining industry during this year, some questions might be raised about the accuracy of this specific statement, especially after the Chamber of Mines emphasized the importance of workplace stability which they describe as paramount for transformation.

But according to Mr Mike Cutifani, CMSA outgoing president, they believe that the mining industry is currently more extensively transformed than any of South Africa’s major industries, although they are aware of certain shortcomings. “Progress was being made across all pillars of the mining charter, ranging from ownership to housing and management transformation,” Cutifani said adding that their achievements on procurement from previously disadvantaged South Africans range from 39 to 67% on capital goods and services, against a target of 20 to 50%. “We know that workplace stability was seriously damaged by the shock of the Marikana tragedy, an event that caused a little bit of the industry and a little bit of South Africa to die. We can never forget that day and we must never stop learning from it,” said Cutifani.

According to Shabangu, various groups needed to become part of the skills development needed in this specific sector in order for transformation to take place. Cutifani added that there is a fictitious perception amongst South Africans that most of the money earned from the industry leaves South Africa and finds its way into the hands of foreigners and institutions but said that the facts tell a different story. “The total mining income was slightly more that R497 billion last year while the total expenditure amounted to R488bn, more than 80% of which was spent in the country,” Curifani said adding that the government and the industry had been talking more constructively. “We have seen progress around the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act. I am encouraged that we are in the right discussions. I have gone from serious concerns in August to 80% more optimistic, but the job is not (yet) done.”

According to Mr Joel Netshitenzhe, executive director of the mining for change conference of 2007 stressed the fact that transformation should entail a fundamental change in magnitude and quality of the mining sector’s contribution to the South African economy through backward and forward linkages, community development and environmental sustainability. But according to Netshitenzhe, transformation should be understood in the correct concept referring to the ability to take advantage of all the opportunities and everything that is being done, including BBBEE, which is subsumed to this central objective.

“Transformation should furthermore entail fundamental change in essence of SA’s mining industry, focusing on its proportion in the structure of the economy; its employment profile, quality of exports, the taxes it contributes as well as the width and depth of its profile in terms of equity.”