The Minister of Mineral Resources, Gwede Mantashe this week met stakeholders and community members in Carltonville.
The meeting forms part of countrywide community consultations to receive inputs on the draft Mining Charter.
Last year the Chamber of Mines took government to court, saying the revised charter was drafted in bad faith by the former Minister of Mineral Resources Mosebenzi Zwane and his advisors.
The court set aside the charter from being implemented in its current form.
Mantashe says there is no need to scrap off mining charter three, but instead make necessary amendment’s where necessary.
Earlier this year, Mantashe said he will be meeting with stakeholders and communities in all areas of mining communities to discuss the department’s direction in regards to the mining charter.
The Mining Affected Communities United In Action (MACUA) have rejected Minister Mantashe’s Community Consultation Process and have called it a sham.
Some communities demonstrated earlier this week in KwaZulu-Natal after the minister cancelled consultations without notice. But the minister says they are on track with consultations and are listening to challenges facing various mining communities. He says he is happy with the process and will continue to engage with community members
“These consultation sessions are educational for me, the biggest value I get is that Communities do educate us on things that we sometimes take for granted for example the behaviours and the way companies relate to them. We will tell the companies what people said and what is nice is that people sent companies as well.”
MACUA and other affiliated mining communities say the deep levels of disdain and contempt displayed by the state toward communities, forced them to approach the Courts to affirm them as relevant and interested stakeholders who should be consulted on the formulation of the Mining Charter. The minister says he is aware of this matter.
“MACUA has been in all the nine sessions that I have been I have been to nine areas and MACUA have been there, participated constructively on a number of issues and they gave us the peoples charter. WE are taking it and looking at it and crafting what we call the final version of the mining charter. I don’t like it when people have issues to actually hide behind organisations.”
The mining Charter 2017 was gazetted for implementation in June last year, however it was put on hold to allow stakeholders to further engage on the charter as per the directives of the president
” So you cannot invest a new wheel when your transforming, you increase 26 percent to 30 percent there is nothing new in that we are just increasing the black component on white company but what is not explained is that blacks are not elevated to 30 percent. If a group of black businesses can own a mine whole they can have 100 percent to it but when you have multinationals and white companies we say to them you cannot prosper on your own you must ensure black capitalists prosper as well.”
Government will have a summit at the end of the consultations where they will table the final mining charter draft which will then be gazetteed for public comments.
