The dispute has diverted attention from what is genuinely good and bad about the revised charter, including debate on issues of substance, which have potential positive impact to the mining communities and workers.
One of the positive elements in the charter is its focus on women participation and empowerment in the mining sector. Being latecomers to the mining industry, their growth within the sector still needs external push.
Women constitute more than 50% of the population, so South Africa’s vision of creating an all-inclusive developed society is not possible without women participating in mainstream economic activities of the country.
As mining is one of the critical sectors of the South African economy, it would therefore play a role in creating employment and advancement opportunities for the women. However, women in the mining sector still face a number challenges. A 2015/2016 survey by the Sam Tambani Research Institute, involving 2,856 women, revealed that the two most critical challenges that women in the South African mining sector faced were lack of career progress and discrimination in decision making.
The charter contains provisions that can potentially mitigate these two women-specific challenges under the sections on employment equity and human resources development.
According to these sections, women should constitute 25% of board and executive management positions of mining businesses. At senior and middle management levels, the representation of women should be 30% and 38% respectively. Lastly, 44% of all junior managers should be women.
In terms of human resources, 5% investment of the leviable amount should be devoted to skills development. By being proactive, women can be trained at the employers’ costs to acquire the skills they need to progress in the work environment in the sector.
The delay in the implementing the charter creates an opportunity for all stakeholders to take a moment to review and assess the potential impact of the document to its constituency, if implemented in the current the form or with amendments. The voice of women in mining needs to be heard on the provisions and the practicality of the charter based on their experiences in working in the mines.
Big business, through the Chamber of Mines, is very clear of what it wants from the legislation and has demonstrated how far it is willing to go to protect its interests, but what about other stakeholders? Those who find that it has the potential to serve their interests should come out and broadly add their voice in full or partial support of the charter.
Ultimately, all stakeholders should proactively ensure that the good in the 2017 Revised Mining Charter is not be lost and subdued by the feud between the Chamber of Mines and the Department of Mineral Resources.
