EDITORIAL: The trouble with Mosebenzi Zwane
Minister of mineral resources hurrying the mining sunset
The minister of mineral resources Mosebenzi Zwane seems to be living in a time-warp. His statements and actions suggest he is living in the mid-2000s, when the platinum sector was pumping profits and Anglo American Platinum had the same status on the JSE as Naspers does now. Or in the late 1970s, when the gold price rocketed and SA was the world’s biggest producer of the metal. Or the 1980s, when a weak rand and high inflation flattered a mining sector that was still sinking new shafts and paying generous dividends to white shareholders. That’s all gone. The trouble with Zwane is that he is aiming at a target that disappeared long ago. Once there were dozens of rich gold-mining companies on the JSE. Now there is just a handful of strugglers. Our mining is either declining (gold is running out, platinum faces a collapse in demand as electric cars disrupt the automobile market) or stagnant because of low commodity prices and high fixed costs. Even companies that have done well recentl...
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