Pretoria – In an unprecedented meeting held in Pretoria on Friday, government and key players in the mining sector agreed on a plan to work together to ensure the sustainability of the mining sector for the future of South Africa’s economy.
The parties agreed to, among others:
- Speeding up transformation in the mining sector to ensure ordinary workers see real change.
- Managers and leaders of the mining sector to ensure they manage miners' issues more constructively.
- Government to speed up efforts to upgrade human settlements in mining towns and improve infrastructure that support growth in the sector.
- Labour to manage workplace conflicts by identifying and dealing with root causes; also to educate workers on labour relations.
- Business to take measures to protect staff members from violence and intimidation and develop protocols for security and law enforcement.
The meeting, chaired by Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, was convened amid heighted tensions between rival mining unions with the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) battling over bargaining rights at Lonmin's Marikana platinum mine in Rustenburg, where 44 people died during a labour unrest last year.
The government has committed to increasing police visibility after two fatal shootings involving mineworkers were reported in the area. After the Marikana tragedy, President Jacob Zuma appointed a judicial commission of inquiry, currently under way in Pretoria, to probe the circumstances that led to the deaths.
“The parties recognise that the mining industry is central to South Africa’s economy, job creation as well as the need to strengthening the mining sector in these difficult global conditions,” Motlanthe told reporters at the end of the meeting held at the Presidential Guest House.
With the strike season looming, Montlanthe said for the next two weeks, the parties, which include labour, business and government, will engage in a consultative process to determine what is to be done to avert potential conflicts.
In May, President Zuma asked Motlanthe to lead discussions in the mining industry with a view to stabilising the environment ahead of annual wage talks and calming investor fears over labour unrest.
On Friday, Motlanthe said there was broad commitment from all parties to achieve industrial peace and ensure that the mining sector in South Africa continues to play a central role in the economy.
“All parties will work jointly to identify sustainable support measures required by the sector. Government will ensure that legislative and regulatory programmes provide stability and certainty for the industry,” said Motlanthe.
Government would undertake an assessment of economic and social conditions in the mines and would take steps to prevent the abuse of workers by unscrupulous micro lenders, including reviewing regulations on garnishing orders.
In a draft framework agreement agreed to on Friday, the parties acknowledged that the rule of law has been lacking in the mining industry leading to some of the conflict which they all said could have been avoided.
“Continued violence can increase loss of life, damage to property and unproceedural work stoppage will make the impact of lower economic growth harder.”
Motlanthe asserted that the spirit of discussions at Friday’s meeting elicited commitments from all stakeholders on adherence to the law and ensured that miners understood labour relations and the bargaining process.
“The parties commit to restore industrial peace and that where there are disputes, those disputes are resolved through engagement, and with the support of government,” Motlanthe said.
This sentiment was echoed by the trade union federation Fedusa General Secretary Dennis George who said law and order was crucial to restore confidence in the mining sector.
“We need to restore investor confidence in our economy and in us as a nation. Nobody can guarantee there’s not going to be problems but we should be happy that we are able to come together as social partners and government to discuss these problems and take proactive action,” George said.
National Union of Mineworkers General Secretary Frans Baleni stressed the importance of ensuring that parties do not deviate from the agreed commitments.
“This is something that we need to ensure. We need to be sure that there is an enforcement mechanism and that there are consequences for deviating from such a commitment. We would prefer to have sanctions so that if there are deviations from an agreed principle, there should be consequences," he said. – SAnews.gov.za
