Disagreements over the Mining Charter is one of the main reasons why the Chamber of Mines boycotted the gala dinner at which Minerals Minister Mosebenzi Zwane was a guest speaker.
CEO Roger Baxter said the executives and office bearers of the chamber made a conscious decision not to attend.
“It was not an impetuous decision‚” Baxter told journalists on the sidelines of the Joburg Indaba.
“Not only has Minister Zwane unilaterally published a charter whose full implementation would destroy the industry‚ he also recklessly sought to introduce a moratorium on approving new rights or amending rights. He did so on the basis of his refusal to engage on the issues.
“His gazetted charter establishes an agency that would administer billions of rands each year appropriated from the industry with no indications of plans for good governance‚” said Baxter.
He claimed that the Chamber had not had any further engagements with the Minister after the charter was gazetted by the Minister and again challenged by them.
“There have been no negotiations with the Minister. He invited us to a meeting on March 20. He didn’t pitch and sent his deputy‚” said Baxter.
He added that Zwane seemingly came into his role to “apparently force the sale of a mine to a well-known family that has systematically robbed SA of public funds“.
Baxter highlighted that in his role as Free State’s Agricultural MEC‚ Zwane was alleged to have channeled millions to the same family for the establishment of a dairy at taxpayers’ expense.
All these allegations have led to them having no confidence in Zwane.
The mining chamber was ready to face off with Zwane in the courts.
“We will talk with him through the courts‚” said Baxter.
“For us to have attended last night’s event would have forced us to engage with the Minister on specific regulatory issues in circumstances that are simply not conducive to any constructive engagement at this stage‚ other than through the courts. The last time that the Chamber shared a platform with the Minister — in Perth‚ Australia — the outcome was not at all constructive‚” said Baxter.
He said Zwane gave investors the wrong impression that the majority of South African stakeholders had accepted the charter.
The chamber has made its demands clear that it wants a renegotiated charter that all stakeholders can agree to.
In the revised charter‚ the black ownership target was upped from 26% to 30% — a requirement mining companies will need to comply with within a 12-month period.
The chamber argued that the charter is “so confusing and confused‚ and so contradictory” that “not only are the mining … perplexed as to what they are required to do‚ but legal experts … find themselves unable to provide clear advice to their mining and investment”.
The chamber said the charter was “a most egregious case of regulatory overreach … because of the clear threat to the separation of powers which that act presents”.
Why the Chamber of Mines decided not to break bread with Zwane
Disagreements over the Mining Charter is one of the main reasons why the Chamber of Mines boycotted the gala dinner at which Minerals Minister Mosebenzi Zwane was a guest speaker.
CEO Roger Baxter said the executives and office bearers of the chamber made a conscious decision not to attend.
“It was not an impetuous decision‚” Baxter told journalists on the sidelines of the Joburg Indaba.
“Not only has Minister Zwane unilaterally published a charter whose full implementation would destroy the industry‚ he also recklessly sought to introduce a moratorium on approving new rights or amending rights. He did so on the basis of his refusal to engage on the issues.
“His gazetted charter establishes an agency that would administer billions of rands each year appropriated from the industry with no indications of plans for good governance‚” said Baxter.
He claimed that the Chamber had not had any further engagements with the Minister after the charter was gazetted by the Minister and again challenged by them.
“There have been no negotiations with the Minister. He invited us to a meeting on March 20. He didn’t pitch and sent his deputy‚” said Baxter.
He added that Zwane seemingly came into his role to “apparently force the sale of a mine to a well-known family that has systematically robbed SA of public funds“.
Baxter highlighted that in his role as Free State’s Agricultural MEC‚ Zwane was alleged to have channeled millions to the same family for the establishment of a dairy at taxpayers’ expense.
All these allegations have led to them having no confidence in Zwane.
The mining chamber was ready to face off with Zwane in the courts.
“We will talk with him through the courts‚” said Baxter.
“For us to have attended last night’s event would have forced us to engage with the Minister on specific regulatory issues in circumstances that are simply not conducive to any constructive engagement at this stage‚ other than through the courts. The last time that the Chamber shared a platform with the Minister — in Perth‚ Australia — the outcome was not at all constructive‚” said Baxter.
He said Zwane gave investors the wrong impression that the majority of South African stakeholders had accepted the charter.
The chamber has made its demands clear that it wants a renegotiated charter that all stakeholders can agree to.
In the revised charter‚ the black ownership target was upped from 26% to 30% — a requirement mining companies will need to comply with within a 12-month period.
The chamber argued that the charter is “so confusing and confused‚ and so contradictory” that “not only are the mining … perplexed as to what they are required to do‚ but legal experts … find themselves unable to provide clear advice to their mining and investment”.
The chamber said the charter was “a most egregious case of regulatory overreach … because of the clear threat to the separation of powers which that act presents”.
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