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Cape Town - The department of mineral resources is furious
with the mining industry about inadequate progress with transformation – based
on three-year-old figures.
In contrast, a survey done by the Chamber of Mines among its
members shows that the industry has indeed made significant progress in terms
of its empowerment targets.
On Wednesday, during a standing portfolio committee on
mineral resources hearing to assess progress in respect of transformation,
committee members were given a confusing picture.
The purpose of the hearings was to determine whether changes
to the September 2010 empowerment charter for the mining industry needed to be
made, and whether stricter fines for non-compliance in terms of targets should
be imposed.
The sweeping difference between the old empowerment figures
from the department of mineral resources, which were compiled in 2008, and data
from the Chamber of Mines makes it impossible to assess any credible progress.
For instance, the mining sector has an empowerment target of
26% of industry ownership in black hands by 2014.
Last week Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu said the target would not only be achieved - it would even be exceeded.
But her department nevertheless sketched a sorry picture about the state of transformation in the sector.
According to that survey, only 9% of mining assets is
already in black hands.
But the department has not had a survey on transformation
done since 2008.
Senior chamber executive Dr Frans Barker said that a survey
among 33 of its 54 2010/11 members indicates that an average 28% ownership was
already in black hands, and that not a single member had ownership below 15%.
Chamber chief executive Bheki Sibiya said he did not believe
the department's report had been "cooked", but it was certainly
incomplete.
That was why the chamber was insisting that transformation
figures should in future be independently verified.
Committee chair Fred Gona said he felt uncomfortable about
the disparity between the reports.
The chamber acknowledged that there had been a lack of
progress with certain targets.
Responding to a question of whether it was not inappropriate
to present outdated figures to illustrate the current state of transformation,
Tseko Nell, an acting deputy director at the department, justified the use of
an old report.
When Sake24 asked him the name of the consultant who had
conducted the survey he said that he could not remember.
