JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The South African mining industry needed to undergo a fundamental phase in modernisation in every way, Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) independent chairperson Valli Moosa said on Wednesday.

The former South African Cabinet Minister and apartheid struggle veteran told a key Joburg Indaba session, chaired by former mining industry luminary Michael Spicer, that the five-month strike on the platinum belt was tantamount to a revolt against back-breaking low-wage, low-skill jobs and meant that the industry needed to move towards a high degree of mechanisation as the first leg of a complete modernisation process.

In a second modernisation leg, he saw no reason why workers should not participate in decision-making and be owners whose representatives could attend annual general meetings to put questions.

Thirdly, a decisive move should be made away from the migrant labour system, which had been introduced by the apartheid government to keep blacks out of urban areas.

He believed that South Africa had reached a juncture where it could begin to take all of these modernisation steps in the relatively short-term, against the background of a five-month platinum strike that was akin to South Africa's 1922 White Mineworker Revolt and a signal that everything about South African mining needed to change.

“There is no reason why we can’t come out of the dark ages and become a truly modern industry in which mining jobs are among the most valued in the South African economy,” Moosa said.

In response to Spicer, who queried whether his comments were merely directed at others in the industry but not necessarily earmarked for implementation within Amplats, Moosa spelt out that his job as the company’s independent chairperson was to view the shareholders and the workers, as well as society in general and the government, as equally important stakeholders.

“The return that this industry is producing for shareholders is pathetic. It’s a wonder that shareholders are still with us. So we have to look after shareholders. But our workers are no less important stakeholders,” he said, adding that Amplats, as the world leader in the platinum sector, had a responsibility not to be led by others, but to lead.

“And we are leading,” he assured.

On job losses that could result from modernisation, he said the industry had both a legal and moral responsibility when job loss occurred.

“What we should not do is take ourselves back into the dark ages and be fearful of technological improvements.

“Technology will be the biggest driver of our growth in South Africa and in sub-Saharan Africa for the foreseeable future,” he added.