JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The representatives of mining companies, labour and government on Thursday recommitted their organisations to soldiering on together to stabilise the strike-hit South African mining industry.

Outgoing Deputy President and one-time mineworker Kgalema Motlanthe again led the quarterly meeting at which stakeholders agreed that growth and stability were predicated on resolving current industrial action, which is entering its tenth week in the hard-hit platinum belt.

The striking Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) was the only major mining industry participant that had not signed the framework agreement.

“The two main challenges discussed pertained to AMCU’s absence at key talks and ongoing strike-related violence and intimidation,” Solidarity secretary-general Gideon du Plessis said in a post-meeting media statement.

While Motlanthe was conducting the quarterly framework agreement meeting, AMCU was marching on platinum mining company Impala Platinum (Implats), to hand over a memorandum to Implats CEO Terence Goodlace, which demanded structural mining-industry changes.

That took place while the Mining Sector Stakeholders’ Consultative Forum, in Pretoria, heard that short-term rule-of-law measures identified in the framework agreement were being upheld, and provisions relating to the provision of proper human settlement infrastructure in the strike-torn platinum belt were being advanced.

Du Plessis said that all parties attending the Motlanthe-led meeting committed themselves to the establishment of a programme to address and allay foreign investor fears.

Motlanthe’s leadership, as well as his commitment to the realisation of a stable mining environment, was impressive, Du Plessis added.

The next meeting of the forum will be held after the national elections, which Motlanthe will not be contesting, however.

The framework agreement meeting took place a day after South Africa's statutory mediating body, the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration, met with AMCU to restart talks aimed at ending a crippling nine-week-old platinum strike, and it announced at the same time that it would meet separately with platinum majors Anglo American Platinum, Implats and Lonmin.

The who’s who of mining, outside of AMCU, heard further on Thursday that the mine crime combating forum, launched to keep peace in mine areas, was receiving the full cooperation of the South African Police Service and that violence-linked case-processing in the mining areas had been speeded up.

“There is improved cooperation between stakeholders in the mining communities and authorities regarding the provision of evidence for cases of violence, intimidation, murder and malicious damage to property,” the Deputy President’s spokesperson Thabo Masebe said in a media release.

Masebe added that a technical team was working on the installation of bulk infrastructure to ensure the provision of water services and sanitation in the platinum belt and progress was being made in converting old-style hostels into decent living accommodation.

In strengthening labour relations, the stakeholders had submitted proposals to address the issue of trade union majoritarianism, in order to give minority trade unions room to represent the interests of their members better.

Solidarity described this as one of the forum’s major successes.

Masebe said that a series of training programmes had been conducted on mines to educate union members on best labour relations practice and that progress was also made in the review of the migrant labour system, implementation of the Mining Charter and the reskilling of workers to achieve competitiveness and sustainable growth of the mining sector.

Labour was represented by trade union federations Fedusa and Nactu as well as labour unions, the National Union of Mineworkers, Uasa and Solidarity.

Business was represented by the Chamber of Mines and the South African Mining Development Association and the government by Motlanthe and Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu.