[miningmx.com] – SUSAN Shabangu, South Africa’s Mines Minister, said
that the country’s mining companies were “caught napping’ by the series of strikes in
the platinum sector and has promised to apply the terms of the updated mining
charter with greater force.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Shabangu criticised mining companies for
failing to anticipate a “complete twist’ in labour relations. She added that the mining
charter had been treated like a “gentleman’s agreement’.
She also believed the industrial action, which resulted in Anglo American Platinum
(Amplats) yesterday suspending production at five of its six shafts in the Rustenburg
region, was becoming a trend.
“We had already noticed that we need to be tough when we decided to review the
[Mining] Act but, with Marikana, it’s like justifying the reason to be tougher,’
Shabangu told the Financial Times.
“We are going to regulate it [the Mining Charter] now. We were avoiding that because
we thought we were dealing with adults, mature people who understand. We will
make it to be enforced, and if not, serious penalties must happen,’ she said.
Government’s voice has largely been muted throughout the strike action which has its
roots in a six-week strike in March when the Associated Mineworkers & Construction
Union (Amcu) led a violent strike at Impala Platinum.
However, Shabangu told the newspaper that Government was taking action in
association with the mining industry.
“We are engaging with them [the miners] through the Department of Labour, but the
biggest challenge is to be able to say what are the other issues,’ she said.
Shabangu added that “this is a country which has a history of mining and it’s not a
good history because it’s a history of mining which never cared.
“And that history has to be changed. Any individual who wants to come into this space
and invest has to come with a different mindset.’
