Common consensus among several mining industry stakeholders is that it is unlikely that the April 2014 target, set by South Africa’s Mining Charter to significantly improve mineworkers’ living conditions, will be met, despite reassurances from the Chamber of Mines (CoM) that mining companies have made “relatively good progress” in terms of the Mining Charter’s requirements.

Industry’s commitment to improving mineworkers’ living conditions entails the conversion into or upgrading of all the existing single-sex hostels into family-friendly units and attaining a one-person-per-room occupancy rate.

In his address in August at the yearly Ruth First memorial lecture, at the University of the Witwatersrand, in Johannesburg, Minister in the Presidency and chairperson of the National Planning Commission Trevor Manuel expressed doubt that the requirements would be met.

He mentioned that, in the unlikely event that all mining houses did comply with charter requirements by next year’s deadline, it would improve the living conditions of only a small section of mineworkers, while those who could not be accommodated by the mine would receive a living-out allowance.

Manuel added that providing housing and infrastructure to ensure decent living con-ditions should be a straightforward task, but that matters were complicated by the way in which responsibilities were allocated within government.

He also mentioned that mining houses were not able to provide decent housing for all the workers and government could not meet the growing demand for low-cost housing.

“Faced with income pressures, mine- workers who receive living-out allowances use these to supplement their incomes by living in informal dwellings,” he said.

Parliament’s mineral resources portfolio committee acting chairperson Faith Bikani agrees that, in general, the implementation of the Mining Charter requirements has been slow.

Next year, the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) is expected to inform the portfolio committee of its progress, but Bikani says the living conditions at the mines are as bad as they were before the Mining Charter set its targets in 2010.

Following oversight visits to several mines in the country, the portfolio committee has pinpointed several issues that will have to be reviewed in 2014, including rampant poverty and a lack of community development around the mines, which ultimately leads to the establishment of ghost towns once mining companies have fully exploited the resource in the area.

“Implementing programmes to establish better living conditions in and around mines does not seem to be a priority project [for mining companies],” says Bikani, adding that, where there is development, the local municipalities’ integrated development plans do not align with the needs of the communities.

This complicates the implementation of the social labour plans of mining houses, which form part of their Mining Charter compliance scorecard.

Sufficient Penalties?
Bikani attributes certain mining houses’ lack of charter compliance to their misinterpreting their Mining Charter scorecards, owing to language barriers.

She also believes that mining houses face inadequate sanctions for noncompliance and tells Mining Weekly that sanctions are not clearly stated in the charter, which would otherwise ensure that noncompliant com- panies are sufficiently penalised.

However, law firm Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs mining director Otsile Matlou disagrees. He believes that Section 47 of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA) already sufficiently empowers Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu to suspend or cancel mining rights.

“The Act contains serious provisions for noncompliance, including suspension or cancellation of rights, indicated in Section 47, and criminal sanctions, indicated in Sections 98 and 99,” he tells Mining Weekly, adding, however, that the MPRDA Amendment Bill, which is currently before Parliament, indicates government’s aims to increase penalties for noncompliance.

“The mining industry, however, has not received this well,” says Matlou, who also has his reservations on the matter, as he believes more stringent criminal sanctions could significantly affect investor confidence.

“Parliament needs to strike a careful balance between the consequences of contravening the Mining Charter and sending out a positive message to the investor community.”

Matlou explains that South Africa’s mining industry is currently not in a positive space and that investor sentiment has already been marred by labour unrest and unprecedented wage demands.

“Investors are not going to be happy if they have to face additional penal measures [for noncompliance]. We should be doing more to improve our image.”

Matlou adds that, while legislation provides sufficient penalties for mining companies that fail to comply with charter requirements, he suspects that the DMR could be doing more to improve its capacity to implement those penalties.

“The DMR must use the provisions of the Act against noncompliant companies, instead of increasing criminal sanctions. All it needs to do is apply the existing law,” he says.

Matlou further highlights government’s Housing and Living Conditions Standard and the Code of Good Practice for the Minerals Industry, both gazetted in 2009, as problematic. He believes they present a ‘grey area’ in terms of the mining industry’s legal obligations.

“The standard should set a benchmark, whereas the code should provide guidance on industry best practice. Both should be regarded as yardsticks for companies to measure their performance, while the Mining Charter should indicate the official legal requirements.”

He points out that the language used in the standard and the code is problematic, as penal measures mentioned in the documents indicate that they have to be implemented and tend to reflect the language used in legal documents, as opposed to that of simpler guideline documents.

“The standard and the code should be revised so that they provide the industry with much needed guidance to accelerate the transformation of the industry,” he says.

Matlou maintains that both the industry and government should be doing more to meet the requirements of the Mining Charter.

“What is needed is a renewed social pact between government, labour and the mining industry,” he avers.

Current State of Compliance
Despite his misgivings about increasing criminal sanctions, Matlou believes large mining companies have come a long way in meeting the requirements set out in the charter. Unlike Bikani, he suspects that these mining houses should reach the charter’s 2014 target, as measures have been put in place for mining houses to report to the DMR each year – within three months after the anniversary of each company’s mining rights issue – to update the department on their state of compliance.

He acknowledges, however, that many other companies are unlikely to meet the requirements of the Mining Charter.

Meanwhile, CoM transformation and stakeholder relations senior executive Vusi Mabena tells Mining Weekly that “a significant number of mines” have progressed in their endeavour to convert mine hostels into family units and single-occupancy rooms, with some mines having reached the 100% target, while others are continuing their conversions.

However, the chamber was unable to provide the exact number of mining com- panies that are apparently well on their way to meeting the 2014 target.

While the DMR should reportedly have full industry reports that would disclose the current compliance statistics, Mining Weekly was unable to garner a response from the department.

However, Mabena assures Mining Weekly that all chamber members are working with other key relevant stakeholders to reach the compliance levels set by the charter in terms of the conversion and upgrading of hostels.

“Challenges, are discussed with stakeholders to try to find solutions,” he says. The chamber’s stakeholder engagements include those with the relevant government departments, municipalities, organised labour and local economic development forums.

Calls for a Holistic Approach
South Africa’s housing legacy has, overall, left a bad taste in the mouth of the mining industry, from government to mining houses and the labour unions, as well as the mineworkers they represent.

Mining companies have shouldered most of the responsibility in terms of improving their workers’ living conditions, having employed various strategies and programmes aimed at facilitating home ownership and taking into account community-specific factors, such as land availability, company circumstances, employee preferences and the availability of bulk services and necessary utilities.

Political economist Moeletsi Mbeki, however, believes that local mining houses should be exempt from the obligation to provide housing for workers and that it should become the responsibility of the municipalities where the mines are located, in partnership with private-sector property developers.

Delivering a speech at the South African Institute of International Affairs, in East London, in March, Mbeki said provincial governments should stipulate the minimum standards and quality of town planning and that this would be an improvement on government’s low-cost housing standards.

Meanwhile, Bikani believes that government may not have been realistic in the targets set for 2014, as it needs to consider that the development of mining communities requires infrastructure, which is not readily available in many regions.

“Further, mining houses cannot always be expected to keep up [with government expectations], as a result of financial constraints, among other challenges. A different strategy will, therefore, have to be put in place, following next year’s compliance review.

“There will also have to be some form of synergy in the way we mitigate cross-cutting issues, which means that we, as Parliament, who put the legislation in place, must be able to work with the DMR, the Department of Human Settlements and the mining industry.”

Bikani believes that this would provide a holistic approach of the Mining Charter, which will help stakeholders establish ways to develop communities in every mining area.

She says there needs to be a single structured framework or policy that directs industry and municipality in terms of establishing what is needed to improve the standard of living for mining communities.

Plagued by Our Past
Meanwhile, migrant labour remains a signifi- cant challenge facing the mining industry, especially in its endeavour to eradicate single-sex hostels in favour of family-friendly accommodation.

In an 11-page analysis, which was published in 2012 and summarises that year’s fatal waves of strikes, industrial sociologist Gavin Hartford places the migrant labour system at the heart of the mining industry’s social and economic crises, urging mining com- panies to adopt global best practice in the field of migrant labour.

“The . . . reality is that the pattern of migrant labour super-exploitation – characterised by 12 long months, with only a Christmas and Easter break – has remained unaltered in the now almost 20 years of democracy.”

Manuel, who cited Hartford in his Ruth First address, urged industry stakeholders to consider the reality that, if mineworkers are not treated humanely, the vestiges of the “older order” would still shape the sector.

“An alternative is to offer workers employed in mining a stronger incentive to bring families closer to the mines. This option will require significant new investment, but cannot be rejected for that reason alone,” he said.

Bikani and Matlou agree that migrant labour is a challenge and that several mitigation proposals should be tabled alongside other proposals.

“We must get rid of this legacy, as it reflects badly on our society. However, it will take time and commitment and must be done ethically. The job is to implement social cohesion and not to interfere in family life,” says Matlou.

Some stakeholders, however, such as Sibanye Gold CEO Neal Froneman, maintain that there is still a place for migrant labour, as almost 80% of South Africa’s mineworkers hail from labour-sending areas.

Froneman, whose company is doing well in ensuring that it complies with charter requirements by providing decent living conditions for its employees, told Mining Weekly last month that 60% of Sibanya Gold’s employees indicated in a survey that they wanted to live in high-density accommo- dation.

“This leaves us with the challenge of making that high-density accommodation much more [comfortable] to improve the living standards of those employees.

“Simultaneously, we also have to address community issues and ensure that migrant workers can go to their home towns much more often. If this is done, migrant labour will become acceptable,” he said.

Inter-departmental Intervention
Meanwhile, the Department of Human Settlements (DHS) has been lauded by its own Parliamentary portfolio committee for implementing plans to address the housing challenges faced by those living in mining towns.

Responding to President Jacob Zuma’s policy directive, announced during his 2013/14 State of the Nation Address, which called for intervention into the living conditions of those residing in and around mining towns, the DHS has set aside R1.6-billion from its development grant to improve living conditions across the country’s mining towns.

In a briefing to the portfolio committee last month, Human Settlements chief director Julie Bayat stated that the project was a joint effort with other departments, including the departments of mineral resources, cooperative governance and labour, as well as the provincial departments of the DHS.

Bayat indicated that the R1.6-billion budget for the current financial year had been set aside to upgrade more than 15 000 informal settlement sites and to erect 9 755 new units across the country’s mining towns.

As a result of last year’s Marikana tragedy, which stemmed from labour unrest, the department has focused on four mining towns around the platinum belt, in the North West’s Bojanala district, namely Brits, Rustenburg, Moses Kotane and Marikana.

Out of the R1.6-billion budget, R394-million has been allocated to these towns, with plans to upgrade more than 25 000 households out of the 115 informal settlements in the district.

At the briefing, some MPs expressed concern that the department’s focus had been on only one province, while interventions could have taken place in other provinces with mining potential, such as the Northern Cape.

Bayat’s response, however, indicated that it would have been difficult for the DHS to provide the same standard of care for all relevant provinces simultaneously and reassured the committee that the Northern Cape would be given due diligence once the project was rolled out in the North West.