10. Human Resources

10.1 Human Resource Development

To encourage and support education, training and technological development in the mineral industry.

10.1.2 Background Information And Perceptions

1. The mineral industry has been characterised by deep-seated racism in past practices of the scheduled persons provisions, job reservation and discrimination in access to training and advancement. Problems that are present, but not confined to the minerals industry, are a poorly developed human resource base and concentration of skills and positions of responsibility in the hands of whites.

2. Inability to access education and training opportunities at the workplace and in society by the majority of mineworkers has resulted in 62 per cent of the formal mining workforce being classified as functionally illiterate. This has a negative impact on safety and health standards. In addition, most of the existing skills and knowledge that workers have, remain unrecognised.

3. To meet current and future operational requirements, the mineral industry will need to deploy well educated and trained workers, technologists, managers and scientists. The level of skills required by the industry will increase with time and the skills development system at a basic and advanced level will need to keep pace. The retention of South Africa's competitiveness is dependent upon making good the deficiencies in basic skills through Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) as well as improving the production of skills at the advanced level within a context of limited educational budgets.

1. Primary responsibility for education from the basic to advanced level lies with the State through the academic and vocational education system. The mining industry, and the private sector in general, plays an important role.

2. Mining companies make substantial investments in training and education to meet their needs. Through social responsibility programmes the industry has also supported broader education endeavours.

3. Training provided by mining companies is, however, fragmented and lacks national standardisation.

4. Progress in respect of the advancement of black workers and professionals into positions of seniority and into management has been limited.

5. Entry of black students to mineral related fields of study needs to be promoted to overcome the legacy of past discriminatory practices.

6. For a competitive industry, South Africa needs an education and training system which provides a high quality secondary and tertiary education to meet the industry's operational and strategic needs in a cost effective manner. The learning system should provide employees with flexible skills and attitudes equipped to contribute to the profitability and safety of the enterprise.

7. Hardships caused by job losses due to retrenchments and mine closures needs to be ameliorated through retraining, to provide affected workers with an enhanced employment possibilities within the mining industry or outside of it.

1. A more comprehensive concept of human resource development must be adopted which aims to upgrade the quality of life of the entire workforce through basic education and life skills training.

2. ABET programmes should be aimed at the following:
   • To provide workers with an education and training base for further training and career path advancement;
   • To develop workers' skills to participate more actively in the process of change within the workplace and the community;
   • To contribute to removing all discriminatory barriers within the industry, particularly those of a racial nature.

3. A Mining Education and Training Qualifications Authority should be established to standardise quality and certification of industry based training. The Authority should assess workers' prior skills and knowledge for qualifications.

4. The new Mining Education and Training Qualifications Authority should ensure that the Industry Training Board within the industry restructures in line with the emerging national framework and are representative of major stakeholders. Unrepresentative boards must be de-registered.

5. Job grading in the mining industry should be standardised to conform to cross-industry national certification standards.

6. Emphasis should be placed on needs-specific vocational training and to fast-track management training for disadvantaged groups.

7. A programme of ABET should plan to eliminate illiteracy and innumeracy on the mines by the year 2000.

8. The Department of Mineral and Energy Affairs should apply affirmative action in selection and support for education and training.

9. Greater emphasis should be placed on safety training within training programmes for workers at all levels. Minimum requirements should be outlined in regulations.

10. ILO Conventions 140 (on paid education and training leave) and 158 (on anti-discrimination and education and training provisions) should be ratified by the South African Government.

11. A plan, supported by Government policy, must be developed and implemented to do away with Fanagalo on each and every mine. Induction and other training currently conducted in Fanagalo should be conducted in the official languages appropriate to that mine with immediate effect.

12. Access to ABET for workers must be ensured through legislation compelling employers to provide paid education and training leave.

13. Full union participation in structures dealing with education and training issues, from mine level to industry level, is essential.

14. Education and training programmes provided by the union should be recognised by the State and by mine employers. Union committees should have access to proper facilities from which to conduct their duties in the workplace. They should have access to training venues and equipment in order to conduct steward and membership education and training.

15. Educational subsidies, including contributions from the mining industry, should be made available for the study of disciplines related to mining in line with general policies on support for technical and vocational training.

16. An industry training fund should be established via a small training levy on the mining industry wage bill. Mining companies providing or funding recognised training shall be refunded from the training fund.

17. On-mine training capacity and programmes should be adapted to incorporate life-long skills and to provide flexibility in workers' career paths to assist miners to find post-mining employment caused by downscaling and mine closure.

18. Mining towns affected by downscaling should be assisted by the provision of education programmes and self-help training to enable affected workers to create a new life in the same locality.

10.2 Housing And Living Conditions

To provide an acceptable standard of housing and living conditions for mineworkers, by providing a range of flexible low-cost housing options.

10.2.2 Background Information And Perceptions

1. Hostels have been a significant feature of the system of migrant labour on the mines. Workers were forced to live in austere, regimented single-sex hostels, subject to strict legal and extra-legal controls.

2. The housing and living conditions for black workers in the mining industry are largely sub-standard and impacts adversely on the health and well-being of the majority of mineworkers.

3. The hostels system and living condition for black workers has been run on racial and ethnic lines and has been deeply discriminatory.

4. Progress has been made in upgrading hostel accommodation which has, in some instances, included the provision of married quarters.

1. Since mining operations are frequently located far from existing settlements, the provision of housing has been undertaken by employers as part of the infrastructure required to develop the mine.

2. South Africa is unusual among the world's major mining countries in the employers' provision of accommodation.

3. Conditions in mine hostels have, historically, contributed to the spread of disease and promoted violence.

4. There is merit in either continuing to provide accommodation, within the constraints of costs, to continue to upgrade what is provided or to encouraging and facilitating home ownership/rental by employees within their nearby communities.

5. The large number of workers housed in hostels and the costs of converting such accommodation requires a planned and phased approach to improving mineworkers' living conditions.

6. The principles of choice and full consultation with key stakeholders should apply to the planning and implementation of upgrading of accommodation and living conditions.

7. The whole structure of mining towns and settlements must be altered to integrate mineworkers into the local economy and to end the racially discriminatory provisions that apply to housing for black mineworkers.

1. A range of tenure types should be offered to workers including single, family and rental accommodation, home ownership and accommodation in nearby settlements where feasible. The principle of choice for mineworkers over a wide range of flexible low-cost housing options should apply.

2. Existing hostels on mines should be converted over time into family units and into single units for miners without families, or who elect not to live with their families. Included in the provision of family housing should be community and education services and facilities.

3. Accommodation should be affordable and sustainable.

4. The process of hostel upgrading should be monitored by representatives of the state housing authority, employers and employees.

5. Every mine should, in conjunction with representative trade unions, be required to draw up a five year plan for the improvement of living conditions for workers, incorporating specific targets.

6. Mineworkers should be granted access to end-user finance by qualifying for a mortgagee indemnity insurance scheme where they are unable to obtain a mortgage due to their low wage, lack of collateral security or traditional form of tenure applicable in the area in which they wish to build.

7. Financing schemes used to improve mine workers living conditions should be based on payment for services rendered.

8. The management of hostels must be democratised so that residents participate jointly with mine management in all areas of decision-making around running the hostels.

9. The duties of employers regarding the accommodation of their workforce should be regulated - this includes the space allocated to people in hostels, the maximum number of people per room, ventilation, and washing, sanitation and cooking arrangements.

10.3 Migrant Labour

The practice of circulating migrant labour should be phased out.

10.3.2 Background Information And Perceptions

1. The migrant labour system was created by the Chamber of Mines to drastically reduce wages through an employers cartel that prohibited the free sale of a worker's labour.

2. Migrants were recruited via a system of labour offices on contracts that guaranteed their return, repatriated their wages and blocked their movement. Once on the mines, foreign and local workers were forced to live in austere, regimented single-sex hostels, subject to strict legal and extra-legal controls.

3. There are negative consequences but there are off-setting elements: Mineworkers generate income for rural areas that would simply not be available from other sources and there is evidence that many migrant workers do not want to change their living arrangements while at work.

4. Gold mining in South Africa has been made possible by securing a supply of low-wage migrant workers drawn from all over Southern Africa. In 1993, some 48 per cent of the gold mining workforce was foreign.

5. Migrant labour is not unique to South Africa and in South Africa it is not unique to the mining industry.

1. The deeply entrenched migrant labour system operating on the mines has been preserved into South Africa's democratic era.

2. Organised recruitment from rural areas has brought many benefits to the industry, employees and rural communities.

3. The situation whereby certain mineworkers from specific countries are subject to compulsory deferred pay is a violation of a basic human right.

4. The underdevelopment of parts of South Africa and of foreign countries supplying labour has created a situation of dependence on migrant labour for jobs and mineworkers' remittances. Approximately half the GNP of Mozambique and Lesotho comprises mineworkers' remittances. As a result, there exists an interest from individuals, communities and foreign countries to preserve the current system.

5. Changes to the system of migrant labour should not be made without concomitant steps to address the endemic unemployment in areas supplying labour within South Africa and the Southern African region, or such changes will cause hardship and foster illegal migration.

6. The principle of choice for employees and for employers over the offering and the engaging of labour should apply.

7. Mine employment patterns show a trend towards stabilisation of the workforce and a greater reliance on local recruitment. Despite such trends, migrant labour from rural areas and from foreign countries will be a feature of mine employment for a long time to come.

8. As the mining industry cuts its labour requirements through the increased use of technology and also stabilises its workforce, it is likely that foreign mineworkers will suffer most. It is important that the interest of these workers are safeguarded.

1. The migrant labour system as it applies to the mines in its present form should be reformed. The practice of compulsory circulating migrant labour should be phased out.

2. A regional forum should be convened for multi-party consultation over changes to the migrant labour system in order to protect the interests of foreign mineworkers and manage the effects on neighbouring countries.

3. The elimination of discrimination based on race, sex and geographical origin must take immediate effect.

4. Employment contracts for mine workers shall be identical to those for all other workers. Workers and their trade union representatives should be entitled to re-negotiate their employment contracts directly with their employers and not be compelled to return home to do so.

5. The system of compulsory deferred pay shall be prohibited as this constitutes a violation of an employee's fundamental right to receive and spend their earnings where and how they choose.

6. Foreign miners shall have the right to be treated as any other potential immigrant to South Africa or temporary resident. Employers will be required to observe the regulations and protocols of immigration law in their hiring practices. All the rights and benefits of a particular category of employment shall be enjoyed by foreign miners, including the right of temporary residents to bring accompanying dependants into the country. Migrants shall be eligible for permanent residence or citizenship once they have worked in South Africa for the required period, excluding the annual end of contract breaks.

7. South African miners should be granted the same rights and freedoms as all other workers in the country. Employers and foreign states shall be prohibited from treating migrant workers as a special category as they have in the past.

8. South Africa should subscribe to the relevant ILO conventions on migrant labour.

9. Mining companies shall have the right to hire workers from anywhere they chose without restraint, including all the countries in the region.

10. Employers and employees should have the right to agree the conditions of employment suited to their mutual needs.

11. Migration of foreign labour should be regulated. The regulation should be aimed at keeping the level of labour from outside at acceptable levels so that the region is supported in the process of addressing the endemic unemployment without unleashing anger in the country. However, people already working in the mining industry should have a right to retain those jobs.

10.4 Industrial Relations And Employment Conditions

To create a productive and non-adversarial approach to industrial relations and set new minimum standards for work in mining.

10.4.2 Background Information And Perceptions

The Labour Relations Act, which will soon be enacted, provides a framework for industrial relations in the mining industry to take a less adversarial and more productive approach than has existed hitherto and that should underpin workplace efficiency and national economic growth.

10.4.3 Issues And Arguments

1. All the necessary institutional arrangements are in place for meaningful discussions between employers and employees on all issues of mutual interest in the workplace.

2. Any Government attempt to influence the balance between employers and employees could have serious implications, not only for the workplace partners, but also for Government itself.

3. In the new approach to industrial relations and improvement in workplace conditions, relationships should encourage rather than inhibit workplace efficiency and flexibility in a balanced and performance-based system.

4. Safety-nets to collective bargaining in specific sectors of the mining industry should be set by Wage Board investigations.

5. The same basic conditions applicable to other workers should be extended to mineworkers.

6. A wage policy comprising national job grading, a minimum wage and the implementation of the principle of "same job, same pay" using the mechanism of profit sharing, should be developed by a commission of enquiry.

7. The principle of co-determination in mines should be adopted so that corporate governance includes owner representatives, employees, unions and the local community.

8. Measures to implement co-determination should make provision for the training of worker directors and members of workplace forums.

9. Full disclosure of information is required by co-determination, as is real worker participation in work re-organisation.

1. Changes to the industrial relations framework resulting from the proposed Labour Relations Act should encourage relationships that promote workplace efficiency and flexibility.

2. Industrial relations matters are best left to arrangements agreed between employers and employees.

3. Government should commit itself to ensuring a legislative and regulatory environment which secures opportunity for the workplace parties to settle their affairs without intervention.

4. Wage Board investigations should set minimum wages and conditions in specific sectors of the mining industry as safety-nets to collective bargaining.

5. The Minerals Act and Mines and Works Act regulations should be amended to bring mineworkers under the same basic conditions as in other industries, with the exception of Sunday work.

6. There should be a national job grading system, linked to a national minimum wage safety net. Profit sharing across the industry should be facilitated by new tax laws and tax paybacks to ensure that the "same job, same pay" principle can be implemented across the industry. This system should be developed by a commission of inquiry under Government guidance. This will necessitate the formation of a National Bargaining Council for the mining industry, which should be encouraged by Government policy.

7. Every mining company should be chaired by an independent person. The board of directors should be half owner representatives and half representatives of the employees, the unions and the local community.

8. The Department of Mineral and Energy Affairs should encourage the formation of workplace forums in every mine.

9. To implement co-determination in corporate governance in the mining sector, statutory change is required. The legislation should also provide for financing the training of worker directors, members of the workplace forums and full time shaft and health and safety stewards, in union-run courses. An integral part of co-determination is the right of the union to full disclosure of information. Co-determination also involves workplace forums and real worker participation in work reorganisation.

11. Mineral Beneficiation

11.1 Points Of Departure

1. The aim of the policy shall be to develop South Africa's mineral wealth to its full potential and to the maximum benefit of the entire population.

2. The Government shall promote the establishment of secondary and tertiary mineral-based industries aimed at creating job opportunities and adding maximum value to mineral raw materials, where economically justifiable.

11.2 Background Information And Perceptions

1. Due to a combination of factors such as the decline in the intensity of use of traditional minerals and metals, increasing competition between mineral producers, technical advances which lowered the cost of mineral extraction, and economic factors, the real prices of minerals and mineral products have generally declined for many years, in contrast to those for manufactured products. This has led to a general deterioration in the terms of trade of raw material exporting countries and to appreciable volatility in export revenues. In order to overcome these problems, it is essential that value be added to South Africa's mineral raw materials.

2. Mining is a primary industry that exploits a national asset, part of the wealth of present and future generations. Through adding value or beneficiating mineral resources, a country can maximise the economic rent it derives from the asset, develop its economy and stimulate economic growth from its mineral sectors. The export of unbeneficiated ores is often suboptimal use of a wasting national asset.

3. For many decades, where there have been viable opportunities, the mining industry has invested in mineral beneficiation. Recent projects such as Alusaf, Columbus and Namakwa Sands are indicative of the continuing commitment to beneficiation. Many mining companies and beneficiation ventures are also continuing to spend large capital sums on equipment replacement and modernisation programmes, for example, Sasol.

4. South Africa has the potential to further raise the proportion of mineral output that becomes beneficiated by virtue of its large reserves, major transport advantage accruing to beneficiating close to the resource location, local skills base in engineering and technology and related areas and, most crucially, low energy costs. A number of constraints on further beneficiation efforts do exist in the form of the large scale capital requirements needed by most projects, distance and access to final markets for much of the output from local plants and skills shortages in certain technical and managerial categories. The country's experience of large scale beneficiation projects has tended to be export oriented, due to the fact that there is a relatively small domestic market for beneficiated products.

11.3 Issues And Arguments

1. South Africa's beneficiation ratios are well below the potential suggested by the quality and quantity of its mineral resources.

2. The cost of raw materials and intermediate inputs to beneficiation industries is high.

3. Down-stream value adding fabrication industries have been neglected in South Africa.

4. Rail costs in South Africa are often related to the value of the item rather than the cost of the operation which results in a bias against beneficiated minerals.

5. Beneficiation projects should be initiated on the basis of market forces and of decisions taken by individual companies pursuing well-considered business objectives.

6. Demand side factors, such as relationships with existing customers, should be taken into account in respect of mineral beneficiation.

7. Imported mineral products must, as far as possible, be replaced by mineral commodities beneficiated in South Africa.

11.4 Policy Proposals - Views Expressed

1. Tax breaks are often necessary to make large beneficiation projects viable due to the long lead times to earnings in the context of high inflation. Features of the current tax regime applicable to capital expenditure for gold mines in which capex tax credits may be brought forward in their entirety with a consideration for annual inflation, should be extended to cover mineral beneficiation projects, but carried forward at actual inflation rather than an arbitary consideration. The application of these provisions to cover all ex-mine value adding processes that terminate with the production of dimensional products should be investigated.

2. The State, through the Department of Trade and Industry and development finance institutions, in particular the Industrial Development Corporation, should give emphasis to supporting downstream industries able to exploit the opportunities created by the availability of competitively priced inputs from beneficiation projects.

3. The State, through the Department of Finance and the Reserve Bank, should take steps to lower economic and fiscal uncertainty to permit long-term planning to be undertaken, crucial for projects of the magnitude of mineral beneficiation projects. By lowering the risks involved in launching beneficiation projects, the returns required by providers of capital are lowered and the financing costs correspondingly reduced.

4. The local fabricator should, as far as possible, not be disadvantaged through oligopolistic pricing of inputs and South Africa's distance from alternative suppliers. They should be charged the export parity price or profit parity price (profit parity between export and domestic markets) or, even cost plus reasonable return. Beneficiation projects should be required to provide pricing structures that will at best favour the local fabricator, or are at least neutral with regard to export price structures, to qualify for capital expenditure write-off schemes or any other state incentives or support.

5. Qualification for tax concessions and finance for beneficiation projects should require advantageous domestic pricing such as export parity prices for local fabricators.

6. A small levy, payable on unbeneficiated ores which are exported, could be considered to encourage their local beneficiation. The levy levels could be reduced depending on the level of beneficiation.

7. Beneficiation projects should come about through market forces and not by means of Government intervention through schemes such as export parity pricing or levies on unbeneficiated products.

8. The practice of charging rail rates according to the value of goods, rather than the cost of the operation, need to be reviewed as it limits the potential for beneficiation.

12. Mineral Marketing

12.1 Point Of Departure

12.2 Background Information And Perceptions

1. South Africa possesses an exceptional mineral endowment. The role that mining plays in the economy and the share that minerals contribute to exports define South Africa as a minerals-based economy.

2. South Africa's mineral industry has become a world leader in respect of mineral supply, management and technology.

3. The mineral industry energetically promotes, markets and sells its products domestically and internationally.

12.3 Issues And Arguments

1. Mining involves exploitation of a wasting resource and has a finite life span. Investment in exploration and value-adding activities is required to sustain receipts from mining.

2. The export marketing efforts of certain companies may result in lower prices being realised due to competition among South African producers. Larger market shares may be realised through increased marketing co-operation between producers of similar products. However, counteracting this postulate is a decrease in market share resulting from the perceived decrease in the security of supply.

3. A view exists that South Africa suffers from high levels of capital leakage. It is argued that the lack of free cross-boarder movement of capital results in transfer pricing, using mechanisms such as over- and under-invoicing, excessive commissions and management fees to externalise funds.

4. The South African mineral industry will have to measure up to international competitiveness in terms of productivity and quality to achieve long term export growth.

5. The promotion of South African mineral products internationally will need to be strengthened through a review of barriers, economic and otherwise, to mineral exports. All measures which restrict the sale of South African minerals into foreign markets should be reviewed and opposed.

6. During sanctions many of South Africa's mineral exports were subjected to an "apartheid discount" which has possibly been continued into the democratic era.

7. The promotion and marketing of mineral products in a competitive international milieu is a professional activity that demands the sustained application of specialist skills over many years.

8. The view that the State could match the marketing and sales performance of the private sector is contradicted by experience elsewhere in the world of unsuccessful state marketing institutions.

12.4 Policy Proposals - Views Expressed

1. Government intervention in respect of mineral marketing should be limited to protecting the national interest.

2. Abuses of transfer pricing should be dealt with by law enforcement.

3. All barriers to the export of South Africa's minerals, particularly beneficiated minerals, need to be identified and appropriate strategies for their removal need to be devised.

4. Government intervention in minerals marketing is unwarranted and harmful.

5. The issue of co-ordinated marketing of certain commodities as a means to increase foreign exchange earnings, should be carefully researched.

6. The extent to which all types of capital transfer may take place, which results in lower State revenue and reduced export earnings, as well as the potential role of a Mineral Marketing Audit office, should be researched and, if necessary, policy should be developed to address problems that may be identified.

7. The opportunities to increase global consumption of certain minerals and metals produced in South Africa by joint marketing and promotion efforts, for example the World Gold Council, and research and development, should be encouraged. A small levy on sales should be considered to fund such market-development efforts.

13. Research And Development

13.1 Point Of Departure

13.2 Background Information And Perceptions

1. South Africa's diversity of mineral deposits poses a spectrum of technological challenges for the country's mining industry. World leadership has been achieved in the technology and practices of deep level mining where the complexity of mining has demanded innovative solutions from the established mining houses.

2. Co-operative research and development that has facilitated the dissemination of information has been undertaken by mining houses when they have found it to be advantageous.

3. The state is involved in research and development both as part of the national scientific and technological effort and on behalf of the industry through the CSIR and Mintek as well as at universities and technikons.

13.3 Issues And Arguments

1. Research and development in the mineral industry will be affected by efforts to develop a comprehensive science and technology policy that will address the country's needs. This initiative will tackle issues such as directing the country's research and development effort towards addressing the needs of its citizens, the balance between applied and fundamental work, redressing past discrimination in access to research and development related training and the methods of funding these activities.

2. Mining Companies remain committed to research and development serving their own interests and funded by themselves, and recognise the potential contribution of user-driven public sector research for common interests.

3. For research and development related to the mining and mineral industry, there exists a relatively large number of stakeholders representing a variety of disciplines.

4. A relatively large number of research and development organisations exist and the lack of co-ordination between such groups fragments and dilutes their efforts.

5. The application of framework autonomy for science councils has been perceived in some quarters an unilateral restructuring.

6. University and Technikon departments teaching disciplines related to the mining and minerals industry have a research and development role which lacks clarity.

7. Research and development undertaken by the State should be user-driven and compliment private sector activity.

8. Funding for the Safety in Mines Research Advisory Council (SIMRAC) is provided exclusively by the owners, however, the Government Mining Engineer (GME) has control over the allocation of such funds.

9. No cap exists on the funding for SIMRAC that the GME may demand of the industry.

10. The Leon Commission has commented on the role of SIMRAC and observed that the composition of the council requires changes to include worker representatives, that the selection of research fields reflects a failure to apply a rigourous needs-based assessment and that the Council has failed to deal with research matters related to occupational health.

13.4 Policy Proposals - Views Expressed

1. Research and development efforts should be directed to areas of high need in the present mainstream industry, particularly health and safety, as well as to priority areas identified by the Reconstruction and Development Programme, particularly small-scale mining and mineral beneficiation.

2. A system of matching grants should be considered for funding research and development projects.

3. The recommendations of the Leon Commission on the restructuring of SIMRAC, the need for competent research management and oversight of its programmes and the need for occupational health research be undertaken, should be implemented.

4. State influence over State funds spent on joint research and development projects with industry should be guaranteed.

5. A mining and mineral processing research and development commission should be established for the purposes of making best use of existing facilities, to promote collaborative research efforts, to promote technology transfer and to ensure that minerals related research and development is conducted in accordance with the country's science and technology policy and national objectives for the mineral industry.

6. Safeguards are needed to ensure that SIMRAC funding should be kept within sensible limits.

14. Regionalisation And Internationalisation

14.1 Point Of Departure

14.2 Background Information And Perceptions

1. International economic relations are increasingly influenced by the formation of regional trade blocks, such as those in Europe and North America, offering the advantage of co-ordinated policies, large markets and the free flow of goods and services.

2. Southern Africa has immense mineral wealth and the region produces over a third of the world's supply of gold, diamonds, platinum-group metals, vanadium, chrome and cobalt as well as over a tenth of other important minerals such as copper, manganese, granite and zircon.

3. Since its inception, the South African mining industry has had extensive involvement and interests in the region, recruiting labour, prospecting and conducting mining operations. With the demise of apartheid and normalisation of relations with our neighbours, South African companies are re-entering the region with vigour.

4. The apartheid regime played a very destructive role in the region that has exacerbated regional underdevelopment, inequities and dependencies and has promoted the movement of undocumented foreigners into South Africa.

14.3 Issues And Arguments

1. Failure to manage South Africa's integration into the region's economy could result in this country dominating the region and attracting resources away from smaller countries.

2. To avoid disruptions consequent upon regional integration, policies need to enhance South Africa's capacity to contribute to the development of neighbouring countries.

3. The objectives of policies on co-operation in the mineral and mining sectors of SADC countries are to achieve an equitable, balanced and mutually beneficial regional order in post-apartheid Southern Africa.

4. A regional framework for the mining sector will: make it easier for mining companies to access and exploit the regional mining potential; reduce destructive competition between regional governments in their search for investment capital and foreign exchange, to the detriment of the region as a whole; and serve as a medium for intraregional technology transfer.

5. South African mining companies, equipment suppliers and consultancies have technologies, expertise and services potentially in great demand in the region and the rest of the continent. South Africa's economy stands to gain from increased regional, continental and international co-operation.

6. South Africa's accession into SADC should enhance efforts underway to promote co-operation and integration in Southern Africa. Our neighbours need to contribute to co-operation programmes for the region to develop for the benefit of all concerned.

7. Threats to international mineral trade, largely due to environmental restrictions, needs to be addressed and countered on a co-operative basis by mineral producing countries.

14.4 Policy Proposals - Views Expressed

1. The policies of Southern African countries should be co-ordinated so that the region can benefit optimally from its mineral wealth.

2. A phased removal of barriers to the free movement of labour, capital, goods and services in a manner that will avoid destabilising the countries involved.

3. South African mining and related companies should be encouraged to apply their expertise to tap business opportunities in the region and across the continent.

4. The potential for cross-border mineral processing, which optimises capacity utilisation and increases value adding in the region, should be encouraged.

5. Regional co-operation in technology development should be facilitated through the exchange of geoscience information, technology, facilities and expertise.

6. South Africa should encourage co-operation in the development of human resources, facilitate the upgrading of the institutional capacity of Southern Africa mining and geology departments at tertiary institutions, and pool resources together in the use of laboratory facilities, research centres and institutions.

7. Co-operation should be sought in the harmonisation of the minerals and related legislation in the region. In addition, through SADC, the harmonisation of mineral-related industrial and technical standards should be promoted.

8. The feasibility of creating a special facility for South African outward investment into the region, currently restricted by exchange control, should be prioritised. Steps must be taken to encourage the dissemination of investment and exploration information among member countries.

9. Governments and private industry should co-operate internationally to address environmental concerns in respect of mining and minerals and to prevent further barriers to international mineral trade flows.

15. Governance

15.1 Management And Promotion

The management and regulatory activities of Government will be conducted in a transparent manner and will take into account the views and interests of all the stakeholders in the mineral industry.

15.1.2 Background Information And Perceptions

1. In order to promote, support and regulate minerals and mining it is essential that Government institutions are competent and efficient. Exploration and mining are high risk businesses and consequently it is important that individuals and companies are confident in their dealings with State institutions and that decisions are made timeously and efficiently. If contracts are to be negotiated and investment mobilised it will be important that institutions respond rapidly and professionally.

2. The governance of the mining industry involves a number of players apart from the Department of Mineral and Energy Affairs (DMEA). Other State Departments that have a primary influence on the industry are Environment, Water Affairs and Forestry, Finance, Labour and many others. However, it is the DMEA which has the central role in governance.

3. In order to improve access to and investment in the mineral industry, Government institutions should not only assume a regulatory role but should actively pursue a promotional role as well.

1. Sensible regulation requires an understanding of the nature and interrelated technical complexities of mining, making the existence of a single, central regulatory agency highly desirable. That agency should be the DMEA, working as necessary through its own regional offices.

2. The issues that arise with the DMEA are both structural and functional, and are:
   • The racial and cultural make-up of the Department is reminiscent of the previous Government, and as such tends to be conservative and bureaucratic in nature;
   • The DMEA has a regulatory culture as opposed to the developmental culture required to stimulate the industry;
   • Interdepartmental communications, particularly between the DMEA and Environment and Water Affairs and Forestry need to be improved in order to decrease the potential for cross-cutting legislation;
   • The Department is a relatively junior department, and as such, commands an unacceptably low budget outside of the AEC allocation;
   • The span of control of the Department is stretched in some areas, and the reintroduction of sub-offices or commissioners offices needs to be considered in order to provide support to RDP projects;
   • The quality of the inspectorate responsible for health and safety and environmental regulation is unacceptably low;
   • The redefinition of the DMEA regions according to geological rather than political boundries.

3. DMEA and the industry will need to foster a co-operative relationship to gain early cognisance of the policy proposals of other government departments or agencies whose regulatory directives may have an impact on mining. Such an approach will need to have sight of factors apparently outside the industry.

4. The DMEA should not be limited to regulating the mining industry and to formulating mining and minerals policy. The Department should also serve as the pivotal link between the industry and other government departments and regulatory agencies, and to that extent it should also have a "protective" or even "promotional" role.

5. A major problem of the present South African institutional system is that a considerable amount of geological data and information is locked up in company files and there is no adequate State repository of all the geological work and allied data and information, done and compiled over many years in South Africa. Equally, South Africa has a series of fragmented and unrelated institutions all providing some form of minerals and mining services, in some cases with duplication of effort.

6. The State should ensure that the recommendations of the Leon Commission are implemented immediately and that the four internationally recognised basic worker rights for health and safety are endorsed and applied in all aspects of the mining and minerals policy.

1. A single regulatory agency at national level for mining, viz. DMEA.

2. Affirmative action in the Department need to be facilitated.

3. A development branch for the Department needs to be investigated and specified. This should include a capacity to promote investment.

4. A "One-Window" approach whereby prospectors and investors can rapidly obtain the full rang of information and support necessary to implement exploration programs.

5. With regard to the promotional role of the DMEA, there should be a small number of adequately funded and equipped institutions with well defined roles, professional staff, and well defined decision making processes.

6. The role of the Minerals Bureau needs to be reassessed, and it should play a far more creative and influential role than it does at present, particularly in the formulation of minerals policy.

7. Make available to the minerals and mining industry up-to-date geoscience and land status information through the Geological Survey Department (Geoscience Council).

8. The Department of Mineral and Energy Affairs should be restructured to create a separate administrative agency for health and safety on the mines. The responsibility of this inspectorate should be to enforce the new Health and Safety Act and monitor the health and safety policies of every mine.

9. A programme for upgrading the health & safety inspectorate needs to be introduced. In this respect conditions of employment and remuneration of the inspectorate need to be revised.

10. One-stop interdepartmental planning for health and safety and environmental regulation needs to be introduced.

11. The DMEA should also promote the industry's interests in relation to other departments and agencies of the Government.

12. The current budget of the Department would be adequate if the allocation of the AEC were to be radically reduced. This would allow the Department to increase its effectiveness in terms of both regulation and as an agent for development of the industry.

13. In addition to the Department of Mineral and Energy Affairs, and the existing science councils, viz Mintek, Geoscience Council and the CSIR, state agencies should be introduced. While the DMEA has primarily a regulatory function, the role of the Agencies would be primarily promotional.

    Proposed promotional agencies are:

    • Research and Development Agency
    • Small Mines Bureau
    • Environmental Management Agency
    • Human Resources Development Agency.

14. The mining inspectorate of the DMEA needs to be opened up to experienced miners with significant experience but lacking the pre-requisite qualifications. This could be achieved by having different grades of inspectors for different sectors and size of mine, and by introducing a development programme for inspectors not having the necessary qualifications. The inspectorate should reflect the general population and opportunity should be made for career progression.

15. Mineral-specific inspectorates should be introduced in order that they specialise in their sectors, eg coal, deep-level gold, marine diamonds, etc.

15.2 National, Provincial And Local Authority

The Government shall ensure equal treatment and standards in respect of the management and regulation of the mineral industry in all the Provinces of South Africa.

15.2.2 Background Information And Perceptions

In view of the new constitutional dispensation in South Africa, it is important to ensure that uniform mineral management and regulatory standards be maintained throughout South Africa and that services provided by Government be rendered in an equitable manner.

15.2.3 Issues And Arguments

1. Sensible regulation requires an understanding of the nature and interrelated technical complexities of mining, making the existence of a single, central regulatory agency highly desirable.

2. Because of the way the industry has evolved as well as the need for consistency of policy and practice across provincial and local boundaries, there should be minimal devolution of authority to separate provincial or lower level bodies. Such bodies should not be empowered to create laws or regulations which impact on mining.

3. In cases where there is a need for issues to be dealt with at below-national level, a prior consultative process with all affected parties is essential.

4. The relationship between a mine and its provincial and local authorities has many dimensions but the basic criteria should be that the authorities should avoid undue involvement in the operations of a mine.

5. Where a mine uses services provided by a local authority it should be charged for on an economic and equitable basis, governed by the costs of provision; mines should not be burdened with inflated prices designed to improve the financial position of the local authority.

6. Where a mine supplies its own services or can obtain them competitively from a supplier other than the local authority, it should not be obliged either to pay rates in respect of such services or to acquire them from the local authority.

1. Services provided to a mine by provincial or local authorities should be charged on an efficient and equitable basis.

2. A single regulatory agency at national level is required.

3. If no services are provided, no rates should be charged.

15.3 Stakeholder Consultation

1. The policy shall recognise the major contribution that the mineral industry has made and can make to the economic and social development of the country.

2. The management and regulatory activities of Government will be conducted in a transparent manner and will take into account the views and interests of all the stakeholders in the mineral industry.

1. The mineral industry has been an important factor in the development of South Africa's infrastructure and much of its secondary industry. It is a major provider of employment and other business opportunities, both directly and through backward and forward linkages. In order for the mineral industry to play its required role in respect of economic growth and the earning of foreign exchange, good co-operation will be required between Government, labour and the industry. This can only be achieved when policy formulation, management and regulation are conducted in an atmosphere of openness and in close consultation with stakeholders in the industry.

2. South Africans recognise that there are large and complicated issues involved in mineral development activities. Development decisions affect the public in more ways than just providing employment opportunities. The public should be involved in discussing all of the issues surrounding mineral development activities and should participate in the decision making process.

1. A healthy balance is required between state controlled functions carried out by appropriate institutions and private sector activities.

2. An ongoing opportunity to debate all issues pertinent to mining and minerals policy, and that would also provide a forum in which the views of other interested parties could be canvassed, is required. Such a structure and process are essential in order to achieve a collaborative approach to policy formulation, as well as to give coherence and focus to what could otherwise be a fragmented and insufficiently consultative approach to policy.

3. Public awareness is critical to the sustained development of the minerals and mining industry and it is essential that the following are in place:
   • Information programs to explain the significance of South Africa's mineral resources and industry;
   • Greater availability of easily understood technical information relating to mining and environmental issues;
   • Educational programs to improve skills important to the industry and understanding of the interrelationships between minerals development, environment and the economy;
   • Demonstration projects to show safe and environmentally sound minerals development practices and processes.

1. A forum for consultation between Government, industry, labour and other stakeholders should be established.

2. The Mining Summit could be revived as a National Forum to give new life to the process of developing the industry with the involvement of all sectors of the community. This would facilitate the balance of interests of all stakeholders, not only the State and the private sector. However, the Summit should be broadened to include all stakeholders including communities affected by mining.

3. The creation of a statutory minerals advisory council comprising the tripartite stakeholders (the State, labour and owners) is required.

4. A commission of enquiry should develop a national job grading system, linked to a national minimum wage safety net. Profit sharing across the industry should be facilitated by new tax laws and tax paybacks to ensure that the "same job, same pay" principle can be implemented across the industry.

5. The new Mining Qualifications Authority (MQA) should ensure that the Industry Training Board within the industry restructures in line with the emerging national framework and are representative of major stakeholders. Unrepresentative Boards must be de-registered.

6. An "Industry Downscaling Act" should ensure national planning for the downscaling of mining. The law will allow for regional investment promotion to build new industries to replace old and set up a tri-partite body (the Permanent Mining Commission) that will manage and co-ordinate the process of change.