[miningmx.com] – THE MIGDETT (The Mining Industry Growth Development and Employment Task Team) established by the Chamber of Mines, unions and government was functioning well despite comments by politicians and labour strikes that have weakened the perception of South African mining internationally.
So said Roger Baxter, senior economist at the Chamber of Mines, who said that MIGDETT continued to be an important forum for “robust discussion”. Baxter was speaking at a briefing to investment analysts and media.
Quoted in BDLive, Baxter said there was”… a very strong level of commitment between the industry leadership, including the minister and other government ministers and industry leadership”. “Everyone’s trying to engage a little bit more constructively than we have in the recent past.”
This is despite mines minister Susan Shabangu’s infamous remark in the wake of Anglo American Platinum’s (Amplats’) proposal earlier this year to restructure its operational with the loss of up to 14,000 jobs. Shabangu said she would investigate the company’s mining licence compliance and labelled Amplats CEO, Chris Griffith, as arrogant for failing to consult with her department.
Other senior ministers have made statements that suggest there’s no alignment with MIGDETT. Gwede Mantashe, ANC secretary-general, said Anglo American was stealing from South Africa by dint of its offshore listing. He also said it should return to South African because the company belonged to the country.
Another problem for MIGDETT is that its engagement with the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) was now not wholly representative of the country’s mining labour following the emergence of the Associated Mineworkers & Construction Union (Amcu).
Amcu has become the dominant union in some of the country’s platinum and gold mines since March last year.
Baxter said MIGDETT had reactivated the platinum task team and that it would seek to incorporate Amcu.
