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ANC MP Mandla Mandela has appealed for the Mining Charter to ensure inclusivity when it referred to black empowerment.
Raising the issue during a presentation by the department to parliament’s Minerals Resources portfolio committee yesterday, Mandela said that it was one thing to state that the term “black” extended beyond people with his pigmentation, but another when it actually came to implementation of the charter.
“I worry about this, constantly. It is a genuine concern. The definition may be inclusive, but often in the implementation of the charter, it may not be the case.”
He cautioned that the public could interpret the definition narrowly. “The definition must translate into coloured and Indian sectors. We must be inclusive,” he said.
“I want to raise this issue to be looked at by the department.”
Responding to Mandela’s appeal, the deputy director-general for mineral policy and promotion, Mosa Mabuza, undertook to look at the mining charter to ensure that implementation would be inclusive.
At the briefing, Mabuza announced that the final reviewed mining charter would be released in December.
He said the mining charter, as gazetted in April, had been revised following input from a total of 60 written submissions from the public,
The charter has been in the pipeline for years. First introduced in 2004 and assessed in 2009 and 2015, the charter aims to deracialise and transform ownership of the mining industry to redress imbalances. It aims to expand procurement and work opportunities and also the skills base for black South Africans.
In the definitions under the preamble of the charter as gazetted in April, it states that “black people” is a generic term which means black Africans, coloureds and Indians”.
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