CHARTER:
Mantashe lacks vision of how mining can benefit SA
Mantashe appears to have neither the inclination nor the mental apparatus to produce the required vision
We are told that representatives of the mining industry came close to walking out of the first round of new negotiations over the Mining Charter, chaired by the new minister. It’s a pity they didn’t. The issue was Gwede Mantashe’s insistence on using the sorry third version of the charter, produced by his disgraced predecessor, as a starting point for the process. Mantashe has promised to deliver a mining charter agreement within three months. He evidently believes the way to do so is to negotiate the many points of difference between the government and industry. This week’s high-court ruling that empowerment deals do not have to be topped up once they reach the specified level (rumoured likely to be raised to 30%) makes a successful compromise between his department and the Chamber of Mines more feasible. But another part of the ruling has to make us wonder why we are bothering with a charter at all. The high court ruled that the requirements of the charter are not legally binding,...
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