The importance of mining has declined in Germany, owing to the high cost of production and the cutting of subventions by 2018, which spells the end of hard-coal mining in Germany.

This is according to German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development deputy director-general for sub-Saharan Africa Gudrun Grosse-Wiesman, who spoke at the Bench Marks Foundation’s fifth yearly conference, held in Johannesburg earlier this month.
Grosse-Wiesman gave an account of how Germany was dealing with this process and other structural changes in the mining industry, as well the role of unions, adding that Germany had been proactive in respect of the imminent closure of the sector by introducing a programme for ‘socially acceptable’ termination.

She noted that the country had also allocated a lot of money for plans for the ‘renaturation’ of old mines.

“The structure of the sector is unified and Germany’s mining departments in various provinces are responsible for the overall supervision of the sector and are either part of the Ministries for Economic and Environmental, or Energy Affairs,” she said.

She explained that mining authorities in Germany worked together with the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy and regularly reviewed mining companies in terms of not only technical operations but also the wellbeing of employees.

“This is in stark contrast to South Africa,” added Bench Marks Foundation executive director John Capel. He added that departments in South Africa did not work together and laws did not complement one another, which led to a lack of accountability and many loopholes that companies used to their advantage.
With regard to unions, Grosse-Wiesman said Germany’s mining sector was represented by the IG Bergbau Chemie Energie, which represents about 660 000 workers.

She commented that there was a pay scale – which had been agreed on by the unions – f or workers, and that the mining companies had worked on safety concerns in the mines.

“In 1980, 7 863 accidents occurred for every one-million working hours, but, in 2012, this dropped to 627 accidents for every one-million working hours,” Grosse-Wiesman said.
She added that strikes regarding better wages, higher security standards and the overall wellbeing of workers no longer occurred, owing to the willingness of unions and mining companies to work together and address areas of concern.

“It is clear that the dignity and needs of the workers and communities are still not a priority for these sectors or for the government of South Africa and that very little has changed since August 2012,” Capel noted.

Grosse-Wiesman explained that, in Germany, the imminent energy transition from coal to renewable energy, the high standards in the mining sector in terms of labour rights, security standards, wage levels and environmental issues were not restricted to the mining sector any more, but were rather an expression of social responsibility, which was promoted throughout the German economy and also translated into German foreign policy.
Within the framework of the German Development Policy, Grosse-Weisman said the private sector played an important role in several fields, such as putting into practice the fundamental principles of the social and ecological market economy that aimed to promote sustainable development.
She noted that, although the commitment of privately owned businesses was vitally important for economic, ecological, social and political progress, the private sector also had a particular responsibility regarding the consequences of its actions.

Although Grosse-Wiesman declared that corporate social responsibility could not and must not replace political action and State legislation, she conceded that, unlike in Germany, this was particularly complicated in South Africa, as the country was struggling with regulatory and enforcement deficits. This, she said, encouraged market players to act detrimentally to the development prospects of the country.

She stressed that private-sector commitment could only flourish within a stable national regulatory framework that allowed for the positive social impacts of responsible businesses to develop as much as possible, rather than only providing incentives for less responsible competitors and free-rider actions.
“Private companies must start to realise that their actions have a huge impact on not only the economy but also the communities and the environment,” said Capel.