This week kicked off with the industry's big event, the Mining Indaba. It was a fantastic week and a good opportunity to meet with our clients and key industry stakeholders in beautiful Cape Town.
What may have set this year apart from previous years, was a lightened spirit and a sense of hope that we may be at the point of rebuilding our once thriving South African mining industry. Much of the renewed optimism has been founded in the newly appointed ANC leadership as well as comments made by the new leadership at Davos
Our team of experts have sat together to mull over the Minister's speech and consider what this speech is likely to mean for the industry - what it said, what it failed to say and perhaps what it could have said. We take this opportunity to share our views with you.
For insights from Jonathan Veeran, click here for a video interview. A transcription of this video is available here.
For insights from Manus Booysen (in Afrikaans), click here for a video interview.
Some select quotes related to the speech:
Rashaad Carrim - "The political landscape in South Africa is changing, but politics in this context is not a fast-moving creature, and thankfully so. Perhaps the approach of Cyril Ramaphosa in the current landscape is replicating the process adopted at CODESA in the early 90s - chipping away slowly and working towards a negotiated settlement - which was of course an effective long-term strategy in that instance. We are hoping that what, on the face of it, may seem to be a dragging of heels, is in fact a measured strategy towards achieving long-term positive change in the industry by the new leadership. Although the Minister's speech stayed within fairly factual, banal parameters and was primarily retrospective, it would be remiss to expect someone in as tenuous a position as the Minister’s to say much more. We could perhaps even take some comfort in his saying less - had he made bolder, more committed statements, stakeholders would not have placed any reliance on it in any event
Johan Olivier - "The Minister's reference in his speech to zero harm in health & safety by 2024 is an unrealistic objective in an inherently dangerous industry. Let's give real measures we can achieve."
