EMPOWERMENT
STEVEN FRIEDMAN: Mining is still way off old charter’s goal
Fights about the mines will continue to be about how what works for a few is divided up, not how to make it work for many more
Much of our time is spent fighting over that with which we are now saddled — and little or none on how to make it work better and for more people. The new Mining Charter has herded both sides of the argument into their traditional laagers. The industry and its supporters complain the government is forcing changes in racial ownership and management that will kill investment while benefiting a select few. The government and its supporters say whites will hog the industry unless they are forced to give way. In a sense, both are right. Mining is still way off the goal spelt out in the previous charter: an industry that "draws on the human and financial resources of all SA’s people". But the new charter’s approach — imposing a set of arbitrary numbers — will not solve the problem because it ignores the need to negotiate change. The conflict is a dispute between insiders about how to share out what the country has, not a discussion about how to change it.The core fight is about the size o...
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