Mining Indaba tackles state of govt, industry relationship
Patrick Cairns
A recurrent theme at this year’s Mining Indaba has been the state of the relationship between government and the local industry – or lack of it.
The attitudes of government and the mining industry have never been as adversarial as they’ve become over the last year.
Chamber of Mines’ Roger Baxter has said the chamber is no longer engaging with Mining Minister Mosebenzi Zwane, as it has lost confidence in his leadership – due to the department of mineral resources’ unilateral publishing of the Reviewed Mining Charter and various other instances where Zwane “acted recklessly and to the detriment of the mining industry”.
This stance is in contrast to the way the chamber has acted in the past, where it hasn’t spoken out strongly against government and rather tried to engage in a less combative manner.
“It came from a change of leaderships and very critically the appointment of Roger Baxter as CEO,” Herbert Smith Freehills’ Peter Leon points out. “I think the chamber’s undergone something of a renaissance.”
This has been most clearly seen in its response to the 2017 Mining Charter. It criticised it immediately and launched a court application to have it set aside, which will be heard later this month.
“Under the circumstances, I think they had no option to do what they did because of the consequences of the charter coming into effect,” says Leon. A new partnership
While this more confrontational approach may have become inevitable, it’s far from ideal.
As Allan Gray’s Rory Kutisker-Jacobson points out, “in a perfect environment”, there would be political support from the top for the mining industry and an appreciation of shared interests.
“The government should make it clear that, yes, there are certain demands that we are going to place on the industry with regards to communities, social upliftment and ownership, but assuming that they meet them we will come together and support this industry. It should still be one of the greatest employment drivers in South Africa.”
Investec Asset Management’s Hanré Rossouw agrees: “… What we need as a country is a partnership between government and industry for starters, but investors also need to be part of a wider discussion with organised labour, communities and other stakeholders. We need to create a sustainable industry that will attract investment.”
As Bowmans’ s Wandisile Mandlana says, this is dependent on reestablishing trust between all the industry’s role players. That begins with an acknowledgement that all parties want to act in the sector’s best long-term interests.