Latest draft mining regulations add an additional employment burden on industry

SA’s latest draft mining regulations, which impose fresh socioeconomic and labour requirements on the industry, may add an extra layer of burden for struggling companies that have been shedding jobs, says a prominent human rights lawyer.

The department of mineral resources on Friday published draft amendments to the mineral and petroleum resources development regulations for public comment. The draft focuses on the social, labour and environmental aspects of the current regulations.

The amendment includes the term “labour sending areas”, requiring employers to demonstrate steps to uplift areas from which they source workers, not just where they operate.

In a country plagued by weak municipalities, mining companies have found themselves increasingly taking on duties that would normally be the responsibility of local government, such as the provision of clean water and schools. That has added costs for a sector that was once SA’s economic engine and biggest employer.

The draft amendments also deal with social and labour plans (SLPs), introducing clear timelines on when they should be submitted and when consultations with communities and other structures over the plans need to be held.

A company’s SLP needs to be approved by the mineral resources & energy minister and is valid for the duration of operations. In terms of employment equity, the draft says the plan should achieve “10% women participation in mining and 40% historically disadvantaged South Africans participation in management” within five years of winning mining rights or converting old ones.

Human rights attorney Richard Spoor said he suspects that the government is trying to use the draft amendments to introduce points that were disputed in the Mining Charter.

In 2018, mineral resources & energy minister Gwede Mantashe gazetted SA’s third mining charter. Though widely welcomed as an improvement on the 2017 version that was introduced by his predecessor, Mosebenzi Zwane, some clauses attracted controversy and led to the Minerals Council SA applying for a judicial review.

“I think what Gwede is doing is trying to move regulations that are blocked on the charter,” Spoor said.

With regard to the additional requirements of a social and labour plan, Spoor said this is adding another “burden on employers” who are operating in an industry where questions persist about overregulation and duplication.

The government “is adding procedures and rules that already are provided for in the

Labour Relations Act. Is that the way to go? Why are you duplicating, why are you doubling up? What’s the point of this?”

Although Spoor lauded the draft’s move to make SLP’s more transparent and accessible, he said the original point of the plans was that mining companies would integrate their social responsibility initiatives with the development plans of local governments. But it now seems that mines have become an “easy bunch to target” as local governments keep adding more development responsibilities.

“It’s very easy to say [mines] must contribute more, they must do more, they must employ more. That’s an easy kind of superficial argument to make. But seriously, there are limits to it,” Spoor said.

WHAT GWEDE MANTASHE IS DOING IS TRYING TO MOVE REGULATIONS THAT ARE BLOCKED ON THE MINING CHARTER