Foreign ownership ‘flouts charter’

Cape Town-140920-Various stakeholders in the mining industry make presentations to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources. (l-r) Chamber of Mines senior executives Vusi Mabena, Bheki Sibiya CEO, Elize Strydom; Jimmy Gama AMCU national treasurer and Thulani Khumalo, AMCU policy advisor. Picture Jeffrey Abrahams

Cape Town-140920-Various stakeholders in the mining industry make presentations to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources. (l-r) Chamber of Mines senior executives Vusi Mabena, Bheki Sibiya CEO, Elize Strydom; Jimmy Gama AMCU national treasurer and Thulani Khumalo, AMCU policy advisor. Picture Jeffrey Abrahams

Published Aug 21, 2014

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Babalo Ndenze

Political Bureau

THE top mining houses should not be allowed to make a “mockery” of the country’s transformation agenda, through fronting or failing to uplift their employees through ownership.

Bridgette Radebe, president of the South African Mining Development Association, also had a go at the JSE-listed mining companies for the common practice of “transfer pricing” when she briefed Parliament’s committee on mineral resources yesterday.

She criticised the importing of manufactured goods instead of efforts being made in the country to process its resources. It was “unfortunate” that most companies imported manufactured goods instead of making them, an endeavour that would create jobs.

Radebe is the wife of Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe and the sister of South Africa’s wealthiest man, Patrice Motsepe, who made most of his fortune in mining. She is a mine owner in her own right and the executive chairwoman of Mmakau Mining.

She made an impassioned plea to the committee to look into the matters she had raised, particularly compliance with the mining charter.

Leaders of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, the National Union of Mineworkers, Solidarity and the Chamber of Mines also briefed MPs on the challenges in mining in the next 20 years.

Radebe said: “Our concern sitting right here is that to date if you look at the 49 listed companies, how many of (them) have a black chief executive officer? How many of those listed companies have white or black women?

“How many of those 49 listed companies are making sure that we do not employ foreign blacks, instead of promoting our local blacks, and (are trying) to make a mockery of our transformation and say we are BEE, when the people are not from my village or your village and come from neighbouring countries?”

Radebe said she had nothing against neighbouring countries because they had helped South Africa during the Struggle and its political transformation.

“But not at the expense of making a mockery out of transformation. We need to make sure that the workers are also being regarded as chief executive officers. Government does that, why can’t we?”

Turning to foreign ownership and broad-based black economic empowerment, Radebe accused certain companies of fronting.

“Furthermore, if you look at the ownership structure you find that… the owners are offshore-listed. I went to the Marikana Commission and I asked myself, ‘Where are the shareholders, why are they not sitting in that commission to come and hear for themselves?’

“We are busy killing each other. Workers are killing each other, everybody is killing each other. Who’s benefiting? The offshore investor.”

Urging MPs to look at the ownership graph of the 49 listed resource companies, Radebe said: “If we sit here and unpack the ownership profile, we will see how some of these so-called companies that own (mines) are just fronting. All we are saying is that there has to be transformation.”

Earlier, Solidarity general secretary Gideon du Plessis told the MPs that foreign mine owners needed an “induction” to make them more conscious of the country’s realities.

“Foreign owners don’t have an understanding of South African realities.”

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