Bishop calls for a new model for mining

GONE are the days when communities in mining areas were bystanders, with Bishop Jo Seoka, the chairman of the Bench Marks Foundation, an NGO owned by the churches in South Africa, calling for a new model for mining.

The foundation, which focuses on interrogating promises made by South Africa’s mining houses, wants an inclusive approach to mining.

Seoka told delegates at the foundation’s two-day annual conference in Johannesburg yesterday that South Africa was in a crisis and mining was under immense pressure all over the continent.

He said not only was mining taking an enormous toll on people, undermining democracy, democratic institutions and political life, it was just not helping to solve Africa’s developmental needs.

“The Bench Marks Foundation believes that as a country, we need political will to enforce binding regulations with strong implementation. We also advocate a rethink around mining models and fundamental change of the paradigm to one of a people-centred development and participatory approach. We strongly believe that this will only happen when people… take ownership, distribute the benefits evenly and have a long-term plan of mining for people and development,” Seoka said.

The social safeguards put in place in South Africa in the form of social and labour plans did not work, he said.

“Money goes missing, monitoring of progress is just about non-existent and who is responsible for implementation is not clear. We also need to ask how much percentage is it of profits and in relation to top executive remuneration. From what we see it is a minimum programme and does not address the real needs of communities.”

Seoka said promises, such as job creation, made by mining houses had not materialised. “They say with one voice, We don’t want mining. We are not consulted or listened to. Our findings are that mines don’t do proper human rights and social due diligent impact assessments,” he said.

Masego Madzwamuse, the team leader for the Open Society Initiative of Southern Africa who also spoke at the event, said communities were still to benefit from mining. “The extraction of natural resources… is important for prosperity, but not for the continent, but for developed countries.”