Putting the nation in nationalisation

[miningmx.com] — ONE of the dangers of an ethnically divided country like South Africa is that some sectors of the population often have no idea of the emotional fervour of other population groups.

The amazement at the violence against foreigners that erupted in townships on the East Rand three years ago is a good example. In the wealthier urban areas, occupied chiefly by whites, most people were taken totally aback at the murderous rage that flared up in townships.

But it had been simmering under the surface of our social fabric for years. And today, if you speak to the right people, you quickly realise that this intolerance of foreigners has become worse, and even more “refined”.

It increasingly seems that the aspirant middle class and young working class are mobilising themselves politically in their intolerance of strangers. This is probably inevitable if one considers the high youth unemployment rate.

The public hearing by parliament’s mineral resources portfolio committee on the revised Mining Charter would also provide an opportunity to observe the emotional undercurrents which are a closed book for large parts of the population.

Various young leaders turned up for the hearing held in the Carletonville banquet hall in the Greater Merafong local authority area. Two, Thabis Mnyatifeng of the Merafong Mining Community Forum and Masile Dampi from a youth organisation, were single-minded. The mining companies simply had to go to government, said Dampi in closing his presentation.

He explained how the once-lovely mining community of the old Blyvooruitsicht Mine had become derelict through neglect, following the downscaling of mining activity. The only things now being cared for were the golf course and the golf club, where mine bosses play every day and then enjoy drinks. The houses had fallen into ruin, he said.

Simon Tshebe had been one of the first black mineworkers to receive a blasting certificate after the abolition of the Job Reservation Act in the late 1980s. Today he represents a business group, the Habanera Consortium, which has for years attempted to conclude supply contracts with gold mines on the West Rand.

He said his consortium had had a long struggle and had engaged in discussions with all the big mining companies – DRDGOLD, Harmony, AngloGold – in the hope of being permitted to enter the mainstream economy through contract work.

Some people keep telling him that he will not get contracts based on his experience. The mines give the contracts to people they know, he said in his presentation.

His consortium had even sent a letter to former president Thabo Mbeki, to ask what it should do to get subcontracts in the mines. Mbeki had referred him to former minister Lindiwe Hendricks. But nothing had come of it.

What mechanism would the portfolio committee set up to ensure that the mines changed their behaviour, he asked.

Fred Gona, chairperson of the portfolio committee, responded by saying Tshebe should see the committee afterwards so that it could put him in touch with the department. And secondly, Tshebe should not expect favours from anyone.

It is the supreme law of the country that there should be change. It is Tshebe’s constitutional right to participate in the economic mainstream of the country. Political freedom meant nothing if not accompanied by economic freedom.

Similar messages were presented by Ike Lang of the Merafong Construction Forum, Michael Ntsupine of the Merafong Youth Forum and the Merafong Youth Business Chamber. There was particular bitterness towards system of so-called black economic empowerment, which had created a few very, very rich people but had meant nothing to anyone else.

Clearly, the West Rand gold mines had for decades generated millions in value, but left behind a timebomb.

Mining often creates communities where previously there was only bare veld or impenetrable bush. In the heydays of the gold industry, the major gold mining houses had kept these communities under control by housing their workforces in strictly regulated hostels on mine premises.

In Julius Malema’s backyard

In the struggle years these had become flashpoints from which mine bosses had learnt their lessons. The later branches of the mining industry, such as the platinum mines in North West and Mpumalanga, had avoided mine hostels as far as possible.

This resulted in enormous squatter camps that today lie spread out around the platinum mines at Rustenburg and Brits in North West and Steelpoort in Mpumalanga.

The Mapela tribe, which for a couple of hundred years had existed as subsistence farmers in eight to 10 communities about 70km northwest of Mokopane (Potgietersrus), received a blow a few years ago: the ground on which they were living contained the biggest portion of the Platreef – an enormous platinum ore body, one of the first platinum deposits that Dr Hans Merensky had discovered in the 1930s.

Today this is probably among the most valuable land on the planet. The tribal communities were moved, one after another.

Anglo Platinum exchanged their houses for equivalent residential units in near-picturesque townships, but the fertile marshland which they had previously cultivated and where their stock had grazed is now an enormous open cast mine, easily 4km long and 500m deep, from which thousands of tonnes of rock is blasted two to three times a week.

They were resettled on rocky soil, where water is so scarce that dry toilets have been built into their homes. There is no stock breeding. In February, after years of bitter disputes, Anglo Platinum announced that it had started to negotiate agreements with these communities, in which it expected to transfer between 1% and 2% (R1.8bn to R3.6bn) of its market value to them.

The question is how ensure that this is done in a way that will benefit the communities themselves. A previous agreement at Mogalakwena, which stated that representatives of the tribe would receive a portion of the mines’ operating profits, had apparently failed.

This time it has to work better, because the mine is in ANC youth league leader Julius Malema’s backyard.

It appears that the effect of mining on local communities will be a crucial theme in the debate on the nationalisation of mines that will reach its climax in 2012 at the ANC’s policy conference.

Mining companies would do well to attend and listen when the parliamentary portfolio committee later hears more depositions from community representatives.

– Sake24

For business news in Afrikaans, go to www.sake24.com.