Mining indaba snubs city’s informal miners
While her office failed to comment on why the KAMW members had not been invited to participate in the indaba and had been denied access to the event, Northern Cape Premier Sylvia Lucas yesterday called for a combined effort between government and the mining sector to tackle socio-economic imbalances, unemployment and inequality.
“This indaba must be used as a platform to explore legal routes or options to facilitate the amendments to the Mining Charter around matters such as the definition of ‘local content’ in order to achieve alignment with the provincial economic growth objective,” Lucas told those in attendance yesterday.
“We will also look at methods to obtain the Department of Minerals and Resources’ (DMR) support for efforts that support the growth and development of the provincial economy through integrated planning for the development of a turnaround strategy for procurement expenditures by mines outside the Province.
Lucas added that the successful implementation of and compliance with the Mining Charter was fundamental for the sustainable and meaningful participation of historically disadvantaged individuals (HDIs) in the provincial economy and the stimulation of horizontal economic value chains to support the development of new sectors in the provincial economy.
“These are critical areas that we as a Province feel need renewed commitment from the mining sector and all stakeholders involved.
“We all have a role to play in ensuring that the transformation of the mining sector is implemented and is broad-based. This is a responsibility that we must not take lightly,” Lucas concluded.
Meanwhile, the MEC for Finance, Economic Development and Tourism, Mac Jack, highlighted the Danie van der Lith
impact that retrenchments in the sector have had on the people of the Northern Cape, adding that contingency plans needed to be implemented to address unemployment.
“The consequences are tragic when considering that mining supports thousands of jobs in the Province and that mine wages are substantively higher than those in comparable industries,” Jack said.
“Mining accounts for 11 percent of gross fixed capital investment, almost a quarter of all foreign direct investment (FDI) into South Africa. Mining exports also make up 60 percent of merchandise exports.
“Through these contributions, the mining industry has had a far greater positive impact on the lives and livelihoods of all South Africans.”
Jack called for the development of long-term interventions that would empower the retrenched to either pursue career opportunities in different sectors or entrepreneurial opportunities
Among the suggestions, the MEC encouraged delaying the implementation of retrenchments, enhancing productivity and managing cost pressures by considering all opportunities relating to multi-factor productivity, as well as the acceleration of concurrent rehabilitation activities in order to align with regulations governing financial provision and access to rehabilitation trust funds.