MZILA MTHENJANE | It actually takes more than a village

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Mining creates resilient economies for the future. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Pun intended — it is about holes in the ground, as well as the surrounding communities, economies, families, and futures. No single hole, social & labour plan (SLP) — or the sum of SLPs — can deliver a resilient local economy better than the whole mining industry performing at its best in investor-friendly conditions.Mining is the backbone of South Africa’s economy. Beyond providing well-paid jobs, mining directly protects more than 2-million livelihoods from poverty. Mining is an economic multiplier, creating 10 additional jobs per person employed. If mining grows, the economy grows and South Africa prospers. Since the gazetting of the Mineral & Petroleum Resources Development Act and the Mining Charter in 2004, the sector has invested more than R100bn in socioeconomic initiatives — covering corporate social investment, enterprise development, supplier development and local economic development. That is not a trivial figure. It represents real commitment, effort and impact.In adversity, mining has shown its ability to respond with impact. Amid the Covid pandemic’s social and economic turmoil, the sector mobilised to save lives and livelihoods — significantly contributing to the fiscus, enabling government interventions and support programmes. SLPs executed separately by individual holders of mining rights have not delivered the scale and impact required to match the expanding socioeconomic challenges. SLPs have become an option for development impact rather than an intention for an enduring shift in the quality of life of citizens. Their successes remain isolated. Their reach remains limited. Their shelf life for meaningful and sustainable livelihood transformation has expired.A Challenge Larger Than Any One InstitutionThe department of mineral & petroleum resources, through SLPs, has played a catalytic role in directing the industry’s contribution to community and economic development. But the instrument conceived more than two decades ago has not kept pace with the complexity of challenges that have evolved and emerged today.Community development is not simply a matter of building a school, clinic or community hall or sinking a borehole. It is shaped — and in many instances, distorted — by failures of government service delivery at a municipal level, by corruption, rent-seeking, and a growing incapacity in state departments and their organs. Internal funding arrangements between national and local governments exacerbate this situation. Is there another model for mining to become an engine for real community upliftment, with sustainable industries and employment opportunities?The whole-of-government approach for efficient collaboration with business is no longer reliably available. That matters. Because no single institution — not a mining company, industry body, or government department — has the capacity to respond competently to the scale of investment our communities require.The government has correctly identified unemployment, inequality and poverty as the defining national challenges. Transformation and broad-based BEE are necessary responses. But they are insufficient on their own. Economic empowerment without infrastructure and a thriving economy is aspiration without foundation.Employment Is Not EnoughA job is dignity. A wage is freedom. But a job alone is not sufficient to lift a family out of poverty and substandard living conditions when the municipality cannot keep the lights on, when there is no reliable water supply, sewage runs in the streets, and energy and public transport cost a disproportionate share of what you earn.This is the reality for hundreds of thousands of people in mining communities and urban townships. Mining companies are increasingly regarded as the source of service delivery projects through SLPs, which are a government responsibility that many arms of government cannot deliver. What empowers communities is reliable and affordable access to functioning infrastructure that allows families to participate fully in economic life. Without infrastructure, empowerment is hollow.The first big question is, should mining-funded SLPs be used as the stopgap to provide the services and infrastructure that the state is unable to supply, or is there another model for mining to become an engine for real community upliftment, with sustainable industries and employment opportunities? The answer is what makes the mining sector different. By virtue of our country’s minerals endowment, mines are strategically clustered within defined local government districts and provinces. Mines operate in remote and rural areas. Geography is not just an operational reality — it is a strategic asset.Clustering creates the conditions for collective impact forums where mining companies and other sectors can partner with the government for co-ordinated, intentional and measurable social and infrastructure investment at a scale equal to the challenge to transform and transition communities from poverty to prosperity.The sustainable development goals pursued by the Mineral Council’s members provide the measurable framework for this ambition, delivering proof of concept that pooled investments deliver substantial projects that single companies cannot replicate alone. We have demonstrable examples of these collaborations delivering positive impacts, such as the R127m four-lane bridge in Steelpoort replacing an old single-lane steel bridge, the R25bn Badirammogo water supply project in Limpopo and the R9bn Vaal Gamagara water project in the Northern Cape. These projects unlock further investment that supports regional economies and sustains livelihoods. Similar initiatives are present or emerging in Mpumalanga’s coal fields and in the North West. Tangible initiatives delivered through a collaborative approach by mining companies must also establish the foundations for successor economies when mines eventually reach the end of their life cycle. The Minerals Council is lobbying to reframe community investment and development to deliver transformative and lasting impact through regional consolidation approaches.An Invitation to a Different FutureFurther, the Minerals Council has embarked on a process to develop an investment and growth strategy to articulate a different social compact — where the growth of the mining sector and the development of our communities are inseparable. An industry that grows cannot sustain itself on a society that is left behind, and such a society will not tolerate an industry that ignores it. The second big question is whether we can afford to continue doing it the old way. The honest answer is no. Mthenjane is CEO of the Minerals Council South Africa