The Department of Mineral Resources’ (DMR’s) report on compliance with the Mining Charter shows that the drive to improve the living standards of mineworkers has not been fully realised, says independent nongovernmental organisation the Bench Marks Foundation lead researcher David van Wyk, highlighting that the report found that only 63% of hostel right holders have converted their dwellings to either family or single housing units.

“More needs to be done to address the broader objective of ensuring that mineworkers live in decent accommodation,” he asserts.

He further points out that the DMR’s report does not highlight the fact that the increased conversion of hostels into family units has resulted in an increase in workers being allocated a living out allowance, which is placing more workers in informal settle- ments.

“The DMR needs to insist not only on the transformation of hostels into family units, but also on the expansion of the number of family units available at cheap rental prices,” Van Wyk states.

He adds that the current situation has not only resulted in the rapid increases in mineworkers living in informal settlements but has also contributed to the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, such as HIV/Aids, substance abuse, women and child abuse and “tensions between locals and mineworkers that give rise to xenophobia”.

Noncompliance Report Findings
Van Wyk points out that the DMR’s report also found that only 40% of mining companies have met the target for each employment equity category.

Currently, 73% of top management positions, 50% of senior management positions, 56% of middle management positions, 68% of junior management positions, and 79% of core and critical skills positions are occupied by black employees.

He highlights that, except for top management positions, the equity pyramid in South Africa’s mining industry still reflects a large base of black employees in lower level positions with progressively fewer being employed higher up in the pyramid.

Van Wyk suggests that the categorisations do not accurately represent the distribution of wealth, adding that categories based on income could be more useful.

Meanwhile, the DMR’s report also reveals that only 42% of mining companies reached their capital goods procured from historically disadvantaged South Africans (HDSAs) quota, with 33% of the companies securing services from HDSAs and 62% purchasing consumables from HDSAs.

However, Van Wyk states that the statistics do not reveal how much of this procurement was secured from communities around mining operations.

“It is the experience of the Bench Marks Foundation that most of this HDSA procurement, little as it is, comes from Gauteng. This leaves little wealth from mining operations to local communities,” he comments.

The DMR’s report further found that 36.8% of mining companies operating in South Africa allocated 5% of their yearly payroll to training.

Van Wyk, however, suggests that the report does not measure literacy among mineworkers or the impact of mining houses’ adult education and literacy programmes on the literacy rate of mineworkers.

Further, he suggests that there is an insubstantial link between mining companies’ education programmes and job opportunities and placement at mines.

“Every corporate report to shareholders and to society from players in this industry emphasises its spend on building classrooms, computer centres and libraries in local schools.

“Despite this, the Bench Marks Foundation frequently hears mine communities complain that children benefiting from this investment cannot find employment in the mines, which represents the job opportunity closest to home,” says Van Wyk.

He adds that youth from the North West and Limpopo are often unable to secure employment at mining operations, as they either do not have the necessary qualifications or experience, resulting in these youths leaving their hometowns in search of employment, often leading them to Johannesburg.

Finally, the report also revealed that 47% of mine community development projects are between 75% and 100% complete.

However, Van Wyk points out that the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act prevents mining operations from having surface rights to the areas they operate in.

“[Mines] are supposed to rent such rights from the communities on whose land they operate. A proper rental agreement calculated on the basis of the value of the underground mineral reserves of that land would see otherwise impoverished communities prosper.

“It is interesting to note that the Property Clause in the Constitution of South Africa seemingly only benefits private property owners, while the rights of owners of customary land is simply being trampled on,” Van Wyk states.

The Bench Marks Foundation says that it is shocked at the extent to which mining companies are not complying with the Mining Charter, which was developed in 2004.

Van Wyk points out that the development of the charter was in response to pressure from national labour unions and civil society for government to legislate and regulate transformation in South Africa’s mining industry.

“The industry was lagging in effective change,” he states, adding that the charter was developed by the mining industry as a self-regulatory instrument to avoid the development of “more binding legislation”.

“It has been 11 years [since the development of the charter] and very little has changed. There are also increasing news reports on community dissatisfaction with mining corporate social responsibility programmes and local employment promises, which do not materialise,” Van Wyk says, adding that the foundation’s reports have consistently found the compliance by mining companies wanting and in many cases deteriorating rather than improving the situation.