Asisa 'not consulted', demands Zwane withdraw Mining Charter - Business Day (registration)

Leon Campher, CEO of Asisa, said Zwane should appoint a "proper representative body" to renegotiate the charter, which the chamber said had taken scant regard of its input in limited consultation. However, Zwane has said he consulted widely and for an extended period before gazetting the charter and that the majority of those consulted backed the charter, with some calling for greater black ownership of the industry, rising to 51% or more.

"We strongly disagree with a recent statement by Minister Zwane that investors support the revised Mining Charter. Minister Zwane has, in fact, never engaged with Asisa on this and, to the best of our knowledge, there has been no consultation with any of our big member firms," Campher said.

Asisa’s members hold R108bn of listed mining stock, with foreign investors holding R95bn of mining stocks on the JSE, and another R725bn of South African mining companies listed on offshore exchanges. Institutional investors represent 80% of SA’s mining investors.

The demand that outstanding debt incurred by empowerment partners be written off after 10 years by the mining company, as well as the 1% levy on the revenue line, meant the charter "effectively transfers wealth away from South African workers, many of them black … to black economic-empowerment entrepreneurs," said Trevor Chandler, Asisa senior policy adviser on transformation.

Campher echoed warnings from the chamber’s CEO, Roger Baxter, at the African Down Under conference in Australia earlier this month that investment in the South African mining sector was essentially frozen because of uncertainty around the charter and the pending amendments to the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, which have been five years in the making.

Campher said, "There is a very real risk that if the charter is implemented in its current form, investors will be forced to disinvest from South African mining. It is incomprehensible that the government would unilaterally impose such a reviewed charter that would clearly have far reaching and devastating implications for so many key stakeholders."