‘Shop steward’ Gwede Mantashe says mining is the fastest transforming sector in SA

The mineral and petroleum resources minister, Gwede Mantashe, told the Joburg Mining Indaba on Thursday that the mining sector was the most transformed in South Africa, the latest round in a charm offensive that comes against the backdrop of intense talks with the industry over the proposed Minerals Development Amendment Bill.

“I boast to the Cabinet — where I’m a shop steward of mining — and I say to them that this is the fastest transforming sector in the economy,” Mantashe, a former trade unionist, told the conference.

“And they [the Cabinet] say the most transformed sector is banking. And I wanted to come back and say, ‘You are wrong.’ Because everything’s static in banking,” Mantashe said to applause.

He noted that back in his day, the sector did not employ women, “at all, by law. Today, about 78,000 miners are women.”

According to the latest data from the Minerals Council South Africa, the sector employs about 475,000 people, so female representation is about 16%.

Mantashe did not dwell on the percentage of black ownership in the mining sector, which is now estimated at close to 40%.

In ANC circles — and Mantashe is an ANC heavyweight — “transformation” is a big deal.

The tone of his address displayed the minister’s more jovial and accommodating side — he is, after all, a politician of note who can read an audience — rather than his gruff and scrappy side.

Cadastre

On the issue of the roll-out of the much-anticipated mining cadastre, Mantashe, for a change, wisely chose not to set a date in the wake of numerous missed timelines.

The absence of a functional cadastre in SA — an online portal that displays a country’s mineral wealth while allowing companies to seamlessly apply for mining and prospecting rights — has long been a deterrent to mining investment and exploration, leading to a massive backlog in applications.

Read more: Explainer - a mining cadastre and public transparency

Mantashe had previously promised that the cadastre would be up and running by June this year. But the cadastre’s delayed “test-run” stage in the Western Cape was only launched on Wednesday, 1 October.

“We are cautious; we don’t want a system that collapses after six months,” said Mantashe — a welcome recognition of the challenges involved.

That these are probably rooted in factors such as a paper trail that might point to maladministration and corruption was left unsaid, but at least the minister was not pledging unrealistic timelines. And the cadastre seems to be on its way.

With the gold price hitting historic highs of $4,000 an ounce and platinum group metals prices on the rebound, there is a new “vibe” around South Africa’s mining industry. But it remains to be seen if Mantashe can fill his self-defined role as the sector’s “shop steward”. DM