JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The Chamber of Mines of South Africa on Monday welcomed the Corruption Watch report on transparency in corporate reporting, which found that South Africa’s most transparent companies came from the mining sector.

Gold mining company Gold Fields, diversified major BHP Billiton and platinum mining company Anglo American Platinum come out tops in the report, with the three scoring 9.6, 9.4 and 8.8 respectively, on a scale of zero to ten, where zero is least transparent and ten is most transparent.

“Just as the public demand that the public sector be accountable, so too are they entitled to expect this from the private sector,” said the chamber, headed by CEO Roger Baxter, in a statement that gives full backing to Corruption Watch objectives.

It emphasised the concern expressed by its members about the negative impact of corruption on the economy, especially when it damaged growth prospects and thus the economic future of all citizens.

Firmly reiterated was its commitment of September 29 last year, when it joined various civil society anticorruption campaigns to commit to neither offering nor to accepting bribes “or any other unethical inducements”, both within the private sector or to or from public officials and public institutions.

“We commit ourselves to abiding fully with legislative and regulatory requirements,” the chamber repeated, adding that business had a duty to conduct itself “ethically, with integrity and in good faith”.

Such commitment extended to customers, competitors, suppliers, government, regulatory authorities and to employees.

“Our commitment, and that of our members, remains unchanged,” the chamber affirmed in a release to Creamer Media’s Mining Weekly Online.