S. Africa looks to Canada for mining industry links
Vows to protect environment, human rights
The deputy president of South Africa picked an auspicious day to come to Ottawa in search of investment in the country’s mining industry.
On the same day Kgalema Motlanthe was encouraging Canadian investors to help support and expand the country’s mining industry, a controversial shift in Canadian foreign policy was being unveiled.
That shift, which makes economic diplomacy a focus of Canadian foreign policy, was unveiled by Trade Minister Ed Fast on Wednesday. Canada has already made mining a key component of its foreign policy. The move announced this week, which would focus diplomatic efforts on commercial success in emerging markets, has drawn criticism. But it could support what South Africa is looking for — increased Canadian investment in its troubled mining sector.
There are hurdles to be overcome to build investor confidence, notably over labour unrest that saw 34 people killed during a South Africa miner’s protest in 2012. The country’s mining industry has also been ranked uncompetitive compared with peers around the world.
Countering those perceptions was a focus of the high-level visit to Canada in which the South African delegation spent several days talking up the economic benefits of investing there. The visit included a stop on Parliament Hill Wednesday as well as a trip to the Toronto Stock Exchange, which is home to a significant amount of the world’s mining investment.
South Africa is an economic powerhouse of the African continent, but Motlanthe acknowledged that it is also a country of economic contrasts. It boasts world-class financial institutions and infrastructure but also developing-world conditions.
It is also a country that is working to transform itself with a postapartheid agenda that includes economic enfranchisement for populations that were previously disenfranchised. It is also dealing with an HIV-AIDS epidemic and high rates of youth unemployment.
The country has a population of 51 million, 41 million of whom were excluded from economic involvement before 1994, South Africa’s ambassador to Canada, Membathisi Mdladlana told a panel discussion at the Château Laurier.
The South African government has a strategy to move its growing mining industry away from the days when it was marked by environmental degradation and “human suffering,” in Motlanthe’s words. The aim is a sustainable industry that “protects the environment, develops the economy, cares for human beings and is safe for the workers.”
South Africa has not joined the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, but government officials called it a leader when it comes to in transparency.
Its mining industry has grown in recent years, from 500 mines in 2004 to 1,700 now.
South Africa’s deputy president met with mining companies, bankers and asset managers on his visit to Canada. He was to meet with Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Bilateral trade between the two countries was more than $1.3 billion in 2012.