Alternative Mining Indaba can ensure bright future

5 Feb 2014

With the mining industry stuttering between the drawn-out Marikana Commission hearings on the one hand, and its back-to-the-wall battle on the issue of wages and strikes on the other, the Alternative Mining Indaba is poised to provide the industry with out-of-the-box thinking that could ensure a bright future for miners.

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Whether the mining bosses will pay any heed to what will come out of the indaba, to be held at The Ritz Hotel in Cape Town from 4-7 February 2014, is a moot point. Past experiences suggest they will blithely ignore the deliberations that will take place.

"Indeed, the very fact that leading drivers of the Alternative Mining Indaba have once again been ignored suggests that mine bosses remain with their heads in the sand while miners desperately seek redress and an acceptance of the simple fact that they require a living wage and decent working conditions," says John Capel, executive director of the Bench Marks Foundation.

Topics of discussion

The Indaba, now in its fifth year, is convened by Bench Marks Foundation, Oxfam, Economic Justice Network (EJN) and International Alliance on Natural Resources in Africa (IANRA) and is attended by South African, African and international organisations, churches, government departments and media annually.

Among the topics to be discussed and debated upon at the indaba are mining and the social burdens for women; social services and the obligations of state and mining capital; trends in disclosure of taxes and royalties in extractive industries; violation of land rights; and water degradation.

Objective of indaba

"The main objective of the four-day indaba is to provide an international platform for civil society organisations amongst others, to share experiences and to develop strategic tools which will empower the communities and miners going forward," says chairperson of the Bench Marks Foundation, (Rt) Rev Dr Bishop Jo Seoka.

"We will, as we have for the past four years, take our findings and recommendations to the Mining Indaba to be held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.

It is our hope that this will be a watershed year for the mining industry and all stakeholders' inputs are considered and built into plans for the sector going forward. I will not, however, hold my breath on this," says Bishop Seoka.