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Plenty of homework to do
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Charlotte Mathews
Financial Mail
Friday, March 19, 2010
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The mining summit mooted in January by the Mining Industry Growth, Development & Employment Task Team (Migdett) will take place on March 30 and 31.
Department of mineral resources spokesman Jeremy Michaels says representatives from government, labour and business will discuss the draft review of the mining charter at the summit.
They will also consider a strategy for sustainable growth and the “meaningful” transformation of the industry, he says.
Migdett, with representatives from industry, government and labour, was established in 2008 to help steer the industry through the economic crisis, which threatened huge job losses.
Michaels says Migdett’s two subcommittees — on competitiveness and transformation — are preparing proposals that will be debated at the summit.
At last month’s Mining Indaba, mineral resources minister Susan Shabangu said the task team had helped to save thousands of jobs in the industry and its focus was shifting to ensuring the sustainable growth of the industry, the creation of decent jobs and transformation.
Many in the industry believe, however, that a lot of work needs to be done before the summit takes place.
Frans Barker, a senior executive at the Chamber of Mines, says a number of officials accompanied President Jacob Zuma on his state visit to the UK, which delayed arrangements for the summit.
The industry and the mineral resources department are considering how to address some of the industry’s shortcomings against the targets set out in the 2004 mining charter, and what other targets should be included.
This is a complex process, involving other government departments, Barker says. It might not be practicable to hold a summit on the charter review, but perhaps better merely to circulate drafts for comment.
Nchakha Moloi, who is heading the subcommittee on transformation, says it is in the initial stages of the review “and it is very much work in progress”.
More ground will have to be covered in the coming weeks before he is able to give clarity on whether any of the targets in the first mining charter will be revised, Moloi says.
A draft report on the charter has already been circulated to the industry for comment. Shabangu said at the Mining Indaba that the report “did not paint an encouraging picture”.
The mining industry was among the first of SA’s business sectors to agree on a charter, as required by government. It sets out specific goals to be achieved within a five-year period.
These include black ownership of mining companies, black management representation and other aspects to make the industry more inclusive.
A separate survey of skills and transformation released by employment consultants Landelahni Business Leaders last week shows that the mining industry, although better than other industries at top levels of management, is still performing well below the targets set in the charter.
The 2004 charter required historically disadvantaged South Africans to make up 40% of management within five years and that within five to 10 years 10% of participants in mining should be women.
Landelahni’s latest mining survey shows there was 28,5% black representation in top management in 2008, 21,3% in senior management and 31,9% in professional and middle management.
Landelahni CEO Sandra Burmeister says the industry made huge strides in improving representativeness at management levels and in gender equity in 2005 and 2006.
Although there was a slight deterioration in the numbers in 2008 and 2009 and spending on training was cut back, it was less than might have been expected considering the severity of the downturn.
Landelahni’s survey is the only one of its kind and it is sent to the Chamber of Mines and the department of mineral resources, Burmeister says.
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