Government must reform its spending on mining royalties in order to improve the lives of mining communities, says Democratic Alliance Shadow Mineral Resources Minister James Lorimer.

Speaking shortly before the appointment of Ngoako Ramatlhodi as South Africa’s new Mineral Resources Minister, Lorimer said government had been almost entirely absent from mining communities and the problems faced within the sector since the beginning of the strike in the platinum belt, which is now in its seventeeth week.

Ramatlhodi replaces Susan Shabangu, who was appointed head of a newly created Women’s Ministry in the Office of the Presidency. Godfrey Oliphant continues as Deputy Mineral Resources Minister.

Lorimer said that South Africa’s mining industry, with reserves worth an estimated R20.3-trillion, remained one the world most valuable mining sectors.

Yet the government appeared paralysed by years of poor decision-making that gave the country laws that only benefited the National Union of Mineworkers.

With the industry and the country in trouble, it was past the time for government to act.

By reinvesting a portion of royalties back into communities, which had to cope with diverse environmental issues and the in-migration of job seekers caused by mining operations, these communities would be empowered with the resources to cope with the challenges they had to face.

If mineworkers and their families had decent living conditions, the pressure on them to win higher wages would not be as intense.

This would have the added benefit of upgrading living conditions, not just for miners but also for entire communities.

Such royalty reinvestment must be administered through the formation of an independent, credible, transparent and capacitated development agency working in partnership with mining companies, local and provincial government and community leaders.

The reinvestment of royalties into mining communities would serve as an added initiative, over and above mining companies’ ongoing obligations to invest in communities and to improve the lives of mineworkers and their families.

It was time for government to take a proactive stance and act in the interests of the mining sector and its workers.

While wage demands associated with current strike activity might be unsustainable, improving living conditions for miners was not out of reach, Lorimer added.