Ramaphosa intervenes in Mining Charter battle

The intervention of newly elected President Cyril Ramaphosa has resulted in the withdrawal of the controversial 2017 Mining Charter and the postponement of a court battle to facilitate an all-inclusive consultative process about a new Charter.

A full bench of the High Court in Pretoria, led by Judge President Dunstan Mlambo, yesterday postponed the Chamber of Mines’ application to have the Charter set aside indefinitely, but recorded that affected mining communities were interested and relevant stakeholders in the finalisation of a new Mining Charter.

Judge Mlambo said it was their view that it would be prudent that the concerns of the mining communities must be properly addressed.

Judge Jody Kollapen remarked during legal argument that the communities’ perception of exclusion was hanging heavily in the air.

A group of mineworkers staged a demonstration outside the court to protest against being excluded from the weekend’s consultations between the President and Chamber of Mines about the postponement, saying it strengthened their fears that they would once again be excluded.

Minerals and Energy Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane made it clear in court papers that he recognised the mining communities as interested parties.

Louise du Plessis from Lawyers for Human Rights, which represents some of the communities, welcomed the ruling, but said they would carefully watch the process going forward and not hesitate to approach the court again if their clients’ rights were negatively affected.

The Centre for Applied legal studies, which represents community networks MACAU, WAMAU and MEJCON-SA, has also welcomed the ruling as a “tremendous outcome”, especially where the organisations were at no stage invited to participate in discussions between the State and the Chamber of Mines.

They said the weekend’s experience mirrored the daily experience of mining-affected communities across South Africa and was part of the same pattern of exclusion that led communities to approach the court in the first place.

They also questioned why a statement about the postponement was issued by the Presidency, which was not a party to the proceedings and expressed concern about the wasted costs, and whether the Minister would pay it.

The court yesterday reserved judgment on the issue of costs.

Jomo Keromeng, spokesperson for the Bakgatla ba Sefikile community near the Swartklip/Union Mine in Limpopo was one of the many miners who travelled to the city to attend the court hearing.

He said the community was very grateful that they and other communities have been recognized as stakeholders in the drafting of a new mining charter.

“The communities want to be main role players in the industry, not only labourers. We want to see that skills are imparted so that communities are decision makers. The only way to get there is thorough consultation with them and that community development must be open to the whole community.

“The mine affected communities must be able to make decisions because the impact of the mining and everything that’s happening affects them directly,” he said.

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