ANC to hold mining companies accountable – Mkhize

The ANC treasurer-general has warned mining companies against making huge profits and failing to invest in the country’s economy

ANC treasurer-general, Zweli Mkhize, has vowed that the ruling party will make sure that mining companies invest in the communities in which they are mining.

As part of the applications for mining licenses, mining companies will have to submit social plans to the department of mineral resources. The ANC intends to make sure that mining companies stick to those plans.

Mkhize was addressing thousands of ANC members at the ANC Free State rally to celebrate the party’s 101st birthday, which took place at the newly renamed Kaizer Sebothelo Stadium in Botshabelo on Saturday last week.

The ANC government is determined to ensure that mining houses do not fire workers willy-nilly.

“We have to put more attention on this issue so that we can no longer have the kind of threats we hear from companies such as Amplats who want to fire 14 000 workers,” said Mkhize.

Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) announced last week that it planned to stop production at four of its shafts in Rustenburg, which could result in the loss of 14 000 jobs and to sell a another mine which was considered unsustainable.

As a result, workers embarked on a strike at Amplats mines and refused to go underground.

The Amplats announcement came after Harmony Gold said it was suspending operations at its Kusasalethu mine in Carletonville, to review operations after several illegal strikes.

The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) has also made a call on Thursday last week that the government should nationalise Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) if it continued with the proposed retrenchment of 14 000 workers.

Mkhize reiterated the ANC’s position that it will not nationalise mines. The party rejected the idea of wholesale nationalisation at its 52rd national elective conference in Mangaung in December last year.

“In that conference, we have also adopted the national development plan which will help change the future of this country,” said Mkhize.

Mkhize concurred with ANC secretary-general, Gwede Mantashe’s statement last week that nationalisation will become a burden on the government’s fiscus.

“We are inheriting liabilities from capitalists who have made money and want to run away from responsibility that goes with the end of life of a mine. The ANC had made a proposal to the mineral resources department that shafts which had become unsustainable or been mothballed, be put up for auction.

“That mines with mothball shafts must actually give up their licences for those shafts and those shafts must be put up for public auction for companies that want to operate,” said Mantashe.
Mkhize called on ANC members in the province to be united and loyal to the ruling party.

“Coming from the national elective conference in December, we want to reaffirm the character of the ruling party as a discipline force and nothing will deviate us from that mission. We must now deal decisively with tendencies that are emerging in the organisation such as factionalism, violent disruption of meetings and attacks on each other.”

He said the fact that the Constitutional Court ruled to nullify the Free State provincial executive committee (PEC) should not deter the leadership of the ANC in the province from doing its work.

“You remain the trusted and loyal members and we want you to go and call those comrades who are misled and think they can suddenly have their own ANC that has its own code of conduct to refrain from doing so. If they still want to come back to the ANC, they must behave themselves.”

Mkhize urged the ANC leadership in the province to go back to the branches and correct whatever challenges that were there and rebuild the organisation.

“The NEC would like this to be done fairly speedily and we hope that the comrades here will be able to rise to the occasion.”