The losing tribe gets to vote one of its members off the island!

Bernard Swanepoel - a mining entrepreneur who built Harmony Gold from a small single mine to one of the industry’s global giants - says it feels a bit like being the guy getting voted off the TV series Survivor where the losing tribe gets to vote one of its members off the island - not necessarily the weakest or the most deserving one.

On his blog he says "In much the same vein, SA society has come to the overwhelming conclusion that mining is 'bad' - bad businesses, bad employers, bad neighbours and bad corporate citizens.  SA mining is on the brink of losing its social license to operate."

He quotes three well respected reports which have brought him to the conclusion that mining is about to be 'voted off the island':

Firstly, Stephen Forrest of SFA Oxford - an authority on Platinum - concluded in October 2013 that: “South Africa is fast losing its place as the PGM industry Leader” with many producers, no longer able to sustain production, and consequently going out of business.” Secondly, the Fraser Institutes Policy Potential Index recently recorded SA’s score at 35, down from 44,5 one year earlier - investors in mining ranked us 64th out of 96 countries as a mining destination! Thirdly, research conducted by the Bench Marks Foundation overwhelmingly concluded that communities surrounding mines are drowning in unfulfilled expectation.

He says "Some argue that if we just put the “facts on the table” or throw R20 million at a fancy ad campaign…then even the illiterate unemployed will get how good we are."  But he believes it is not that
simple and that we need credible, elected leaders to create the space and a unifying environment that builds hope for the future.  Instead of national leaders blaming mining for all that is wrong in SA, municipalities distracting attention away from their own incompetence and corruption, mine employees demanding more and more, and the unemployed masses think ing that killing the golden goose makes sense! He does of course not comment on mining executives annual earnings and the living conditions if many employees etc...

I say "while Swanepoel's view is not the only view - some of what he says is worth thinking about - I think it will be a great pity if the mining industry is voted off this island - of course I also think the attitude of the mining industry will play a major role in whether they are or not.  I would appeal to communities - not to penalize themselves for the bad attitude of those who may take time to change.  CHANGE WILL COME - DON'T LET IT BE AT OUR EXPENSE OR ALLOW IT TO MAKE US THE LOSERS!"

Cheryllyn Dudley MP ACDP