Minerals Council blames ‘gangs’ for blocking progress in mining communities

The Minerals Council SA says it has recommitted itself to ensuring the Marikana massacre does not happen again.

It blamed “gangs” extorting mines for contracts and benefits by engaging in acts of intimidation for the lack of progress in mining communities.

The gangs, it claimed, were disrupting implementation of social and labour projects, such as building schools, through violence and intimidation to extort concessions.

The council was commemorating the massacre on Tuesday, 10 years after it occurred in Marikana in August 2012.

It said the country and the mining industry were “horrified” when police opened fire on striking mineworkers at the Marikana koppie. On the day 34 people were shot and killed by police. In the lead-up to August 16, 10 other people were killed in the violence that started on August 11.

“It was a moment for deep introspection in the mining industry to ensure the underlying matters that may have contributed to the tragedy were addressed to avoid a repetition of the events that rapidly escalated out of control,” the council said.

“There are some solutions that mining companies have within their control, but there are critical areas that are not, and these can only be addressed by government, such as delivery of municipal services, residential planning, local economic development and the provision of socioeconomic infrastructure.

“High youth unemployment and poverty are at a crisis level across the country, and we all need to work together to confront these challenges.”

It said the mining sector had a role to play, “but all stakeholders need to contribute to creating an environment that encourages investment, higher inclusive growth and development, which results in much lower levels of unemployment”.

The council said mining companies had improved wages and were assisting employees with debt by introducing financial counselling and stopping creditors’ garnishee orders against their salaries.

“Since 2012, wages for employees in the platinum sector have nearly doubled, rising by 91.4%. In the broader mining industry, wages have grown by 86.5%.

“Another sea change has been the higher levels of local employment of South Africans on mines, increasing the flow of financial benefit from mines into communities and the domestic economy.”

It said mining companies can control the implementation of their social and labour plans (SLPs), “which are the regulatory underpinning of their mining rights”.

SLPs are audited by the department of mineral resources & energy and are designed to ensure communities and labour “realise a positive impact from mining operations”.

Projects include building schools, clinics and houses; providing water and electricity to neighbouring communities; and creating economic opportunities. The projects are funded by the mines.

“However, sometimes prevailing socioeconomic conditions and party politics overtake the good intent of SLPs, with ideology, positioning for benefit and point-scoring complicating the process. Communities are not homogeneous and easily fracture into interest groups with competing demands to secure direct benefits from projects.”

The council said despite several years of discussion with the mineral resources & energy department, mining companies are nowhere closer to the realisation of this collaboration, “with significant opportunity costs for communities”.

“The rise of what the industry calls the ‘procurement mafia’, which are groups of politically connected or criminal elements demanding a fee, often 30% of a SLP project’s value under the guise of empowerment, are increasingly disrupting implementation of the projects through violence and intimidation to extort concessions.

“The procurement mafia use their clout to whip up community agitation and disrupt mining operations to back their demands for contracts that will benefit them.

“These criminal elements disrupt the development of SLP projects and give rise to the perception mining companies are doing little or nothing about honouring their commitments.”

The council said it was working closely with the security cluster to address gangs extorting mines for contracts and benefits through intimidation.

“It is important for our industry to reflect on the circumstances that led to the events at Marikana a decade ago, and how, we as mining companies and as integral stakeholders in civil society, have worked, and continue to work, collaboratively with our partners in organised labour, communities and the mineral resources and energy department to ensure they never happen again.”

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