After the Bell — the strange and ancient enmity between the mining industry and the ministry

Once, many years ago, I happened to find myself in a rather well-appointed lodge somewhere in Mpumalanga. Someone pointed to a particular point at the bar and suggested, almost in hushed tones, that that was where a particular breakthrough happened between the government and the mining industry way back when.

I’m not sure, but I suspect the drinks involved had more ice than froth.

A lot has happened since then. And I’m sure you remember, as I do, how strange and strained relations between the government and business have been over the years.

For a long time, I would go to press conference after press conference, and just get the sense that business was too scared to speak up. 

In early 2011, fewer than two years after this publication started, a younger and less-thoughtful version of myself even published what I rather grandly called “A capitalist’s letter to Bobby Godsell”.

Basically, I felt that business clearly believed it did not have to be a part of the national debate. And since the national debate was changing, I felt it needed to raise its voice.

But business is diverse. And a year later, the Black Business Council, under Sandile Zungu at the time, was lobbying the ANC for the creation of a Ministry of Small Business Development.

They got their wish. Even if Zungu recently admitted that its performance has been a disappointment.

Perhaps the worst point in the relationship between business and government was towards the end of the Jacob Zuma period. According to legend, there was a meeting at some point in 2017 during which business organisations really laid into Zuma – while he had to watch them do it. 

I have no idea what really happened, and I obviously wasn’t in the room. But it does seem that business has lost its innocence. It realised it had to get into the battle, into the court of public opinion.

Now, of course, the relationship between business and the government has never been better. We see all sorts of meetings and gatherings and launches. 

Which is why it’s so strange that the ancient enmity between the mining industry and the Mineral Resources Ministry still flares up.

Yesterday (Monday, 18 August), the Minerals Council confirmed that it wanted to talk to the Mineral Resources Minister about the new proposals to change the Mineral Resources Development Bill.

Read more: SA mining sector burnishes transformation credentials as battle looms over draft bill

The council’s first reaction had been a lot angrier.

And considering that some of the suggestions in this draft bill were clearly ludicrous, it was easy to see why. 

Even the minister, Gwede Mantashe, realised the idea of forcing companies to have a BEE partner just to qualify for a prospecting right (when there is no guarantee of any money coming to anyone at the end of it) was madness. He withdrew that proposal days after first publishing it.

I can understand some of this. It makes sense to me that mining would always be quite difficult politically.

This industry, and the economy it created, was possibly second only to the theft of land during the colonial era in creating the racialised inequality we have now.

It’s kind of hard to forget that.

But I find the position of the Minerals Council – that the main aim of the bill should be to incentivise investment – quite compelling.

It makes sense to me that we should want our mining sector to grow as much as possible, and basically to create jobs.

From what I can see, that is not the priority of the ministry. 

Now, with the obvious exception of the Health Ministry, it seems the rest of the government is pretty keen on working with business at the moment. And it’s obvious that the more jobs are created in the next three years, the better for the ANC in future elections.

I know I might get another angry phone call from him for saying this, but I can’t help but wonder if this is all about Mantashe. That perhaps he hasn’t changed as much as the rest of the ANC is clearly changing.

I’m intensely curious about how this is going to go from here.

I think the Minerals Council is right about the two big things: we want investment, and they must talk.

And they are in a stronger position than business was back in 2011. The power of the ANC has been greatly weakened, people are desperate for jobs, and there are other officials in government who might well give the industry a hearing.

Perhaps more importantly, public opinion probably matters more than ever before.

I suspect that any breakthroughs this time will not come in a bar in a lodge, the location of which I can no longer remember. I think they might happen in public.

And put to bed some of my questions about who met whom, and whether their drinks were hot or cold. DM

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