MINING DECLINE
Policy quality a key ingredient if SA is to serve up a mining sector that will lure investors
Policy certainty, such as the new Mining Charter, is all well and good, but is pointless without quality
“Policy uncertainty” has become the buzzword to account for SA’s inability to achieve higher economic growth, with policy stability hailed as key to resolving most of the constraints that hobble the country’s growth potential. This narrative has been particularly prominent in mining. Recent developments, such as the new Mining Charter and the anticipated withdrawal from parliament of the troubled amendment to the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act, have been widely hailed as representing decisive steps in regaining certainty. From this it has been anticipated that growth in mining will resume. My 25 years’ experience in sustainable growth and development throughout Africa and beyond, as well as my past 15 years with mineral-rich countries, tells me this hope is likely to be disappointed.
The cause of my pessimism? Policy certainty is being systematically conflated with policy quality, to the detriment of the latter. Policy certainty is only one dimension of the e...
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