{"id":88321,"date":"2017-02-28T18:47:40","date_gmt":"2017-02-28T16:47:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/how-south-africas-mining-industry-can-change-its-ways-the-conversation\/"},"modified":"2017-02-28T18:47:40","modified_gmt":"2017-02-28T16:47:40","slug":"how-south-africas-mining-industry-can-change-its-ways-the-conversation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/how-south-africas-mining-industry-can-change-its-ways-the-conversation\/","title":{"rendered":"How South Africa’s mining industry can change its ways | The Conversation"},"content":{"rendered":"

How South Africa’s mining industry can change its ways<\/a>: <\/p>\n

Workers walk past a Lonmin Marikana platinum mine, a site that represents industrial strife in South Africa. <\/span> Reuters\/Skyler Reid <\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

South Africa\u2019s mining industry is increasingly cited as one of the key sectors that must yield \u201cradical economic transformation\u201d and help the country heal a deeply divided and unequal society. <\/p>\n

President Jacob Zuma set out what he meant by radical economic transformation in his 2017 state of the nation address, describing it as:<\/p>\n

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a fundamental change in the structure, systems, institutions and patterns of ownership, management and control of the economy in favour of all South Africans, especially the poor, the majority of whom are African and female\u2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The country\u2019s finance minister Pravin Gordhan also touched on the subject in his recent budget speech.<\/p>\n

So what can the mining industry bring to the party? The Alternative Mining Indaba recently provided some answers to this question. It\u2019s a dialogue that runs parallel to the annual private sector convened Mining Indaba in Cape Town. The 350 organisations attending the civil society indaba reached some critical conclusions.<\/p>\n

The unanimous view was that the trajectory of South Africa\u2019s mining industry is unsustainable and that a radical shift is needed if the country is going to maximise the benefits of resource extraction \u2013 for communities and for the country.<\/p>\n

The way in which mining is carried out has caused immeasurable socio-economic and environmental destruction. But this needn\u2019t be so. Two critical interventions could make a dramatic difference: meaningful community participation and private sector accountability. <\/p>\n

If South Africa acted to put these in place it would be in line with the principle of free, prior and informed consent as widely recognised in various international experiences and adopted by a number of Latin American countries. <\/p>\n

Opportune moment<\/h2>\n

The time is opportune to reconsider the direction of the country\u2019s mining industry. The Mining Charter is currently under review. This is the regulatory framework designed to guide the sector\u2019s transformation. The aim of the review is to make the industry representative of the country\u2019s demographics and follow sustainable practices. <\/p>\n

The Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Amendment Bill is also under review. There\u2019s also been progress in getting a state owned mining company off the ground.<\/p>\n

Debates about the benefits and harmful consequences of mining are common across the world. At the heart of the contestation are concerns about the irreversible damage that mining causes to the environment as well as the destabilisation it causes to host communities.<\/p>\n

Mining continues to be associated with harm all over the world. Over the past 60 years, 40% of civil wars can be associated with natural resources. The reason for this includes lack of equitable sharing of benefits and costs of extraction, lack of engagement with communities, and the diversion of revenue to financing conflicts. <\/p>\n

South Africa\u2019s mining industry is no exception. For more than a century it has produced obscene profits for the few \u2013 mainly investors and captains of industry \u2013 while leaving a trail of socio-economic and environmental disasters across the country.<\/p>\n

One report that captures the cost of gold found that:<\/p>\n

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contaminated dust and soil from omnipresent hills of mine waste have interfered with the enjoyment of the rights to health, a healthy environment, and housing. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The report identified more than 200 waste dumps in the Johannesburg area, which contain concentrations of heavy metals and radioactive uranium. These have led to complaints of asthma and other breathing difficulties. <\/p>\n

The future must be inclusive<\/h2>\n

One important way of promoting the sustainability of mining is through community engagement. More often than not this is ignored. For example, the President in his recent comments only emphasised the importance of discussions between government and business on the new mining charter. This is symptomatic of the country\u2019s failure to give marginalised communities a meaningful voice.<\/p>\n

A report by the Centre for Applied Legal Studies highlights this. It notes that there is no:<\/p>\n

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legislative clarity regarding the role of communities in the implementation, compliance monitoring and amendment of social and labour plans. Communities have no role in the decommissioning, downscaling and closure of mines.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This gap can only be closed if trust and partnership become the hallmark of relations between government, communities and business. But to be meaningful community engagement must involve: <\/p>\n