Mine sector vision fading away – Mbeki
SHARED VALUE, SHARED BENEFITS Former president asks Mining Indaba if problem lies with the public sector, the private sector or both.
Former SA president Thabo Mbeki pointed to an elephant in the room at the Investing in Mining Indaba in Cape Town yesterday, saying the Africa Mining Vision was great, but querying why more progress had not been made.
Mbeki had been asked to comment after attending a session on the Africa Mining Vision (AMV), the policy framework adopted by all 54 member countries of the African Union in 2009. The session focused on how to leverage the AMV Private Sector Compact, which was launched in 2016, to reach consensus on what shared value and shared benefits in the mining sector meant.
Mbeki told the session firmly but elegantly that he was left wondering what had happened since the AMV was adopted in 2009.
“One of the panelists made an important observation – that the African Mining Vision was adopted in 2009,” he said. “It is now 2017. What has happened in these years?”
The elder statesman added that he had not heard even one of the big mining companies refer to the AMV in their presentations at the indaba.
“Yesterday and the day before yesterday I sat in the main hall trying to listen to what the corporate sector says, and none of the companies that spoke there referred to the African Mining Vision… none!”
The vision was very good, excellent even, in describing how the private and public sector should co-operate to help to produce a “New Africa”, but the question
Yesterday and the day before yesterday I sat in the main hall trying to listen to what the corporate sector says, and none of the companies that spoke there referred to the African Mining Vision… none. Thabo Mbeki Former SA president
was – is it working? he said.
He repeated that not one of the major mining companies that he had heard speak in the preceding days about mining in Africa had referred to the Africa Mining Vision.
“There must be something wrong with that,” Mbeki said. “Is it wrong with us as the public sector; is it wrong with them; is it wrong with both?”
Then, addressing Fatima Haram, the commissioner of trade and industry of the African Union Commission, he said he thought the question should be asked. “In the eight years since 2009, why have we not moved forward?”
“The vision is extremely good, it is very important for the future of the continent, but we are failing to move towards the realisation, and that is a serious problem,” Mbeki said.
Each one of the speakers – senior officials from government or the private sector in various African countries – had started their address to the session by offering personal thanks to Mbeki for attending.
Commissioner Haram had even thanked him for “elevating” the session, while most of the others told a personal story about why Mbeki was important to them. – ANA