RON DERBY: Dear minister — ignore the miners at your peril
A well-prepared and equipped state should know that in a battle over ideas, this is the crowd where it's the bloodiest before any breakthrough
Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane, in putting together the revised Mining Charter, has chosen to work around the industry, seemingly consulting on its finer details with his political masters — and they aren't necessarily based in Luthuli House. In doing so, he has only served to add to the distrust between government, business and labour, fuelling uncertainty around an economy smothered by it. Knowing miners, they'll brawl over this charter. A minister accountable to his own party would at the very least ensure that there was enough consultation, especially in such a climate. But here we have a minister trying to ram through a piece of legislation that is integral to the country's transformation project, perhaps even more important than the land question. It will serve as a road map for the transformational journey the country still has to travel, a journey that over the past decade hasn't been smooth, especially considering the 2008 global recession. Black consortiums hav...
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