The Chamber of Mines of South Africa welcomes President Zuma’s remarks on his State of the Nation Address

The Chief Executive of the Chamber of Mines of South Africa, Mr Zoli Diliza, expressed his appreciation of President Zuma’s remarks made in his first State of the Nation Address in Cape Town today of an inclusive approach which would seek to involve other social partners in addressing the challenges facing this country. “The Chamber of Mines is no stranger to working together with government and other social partners in seeking inclusive solutions. Very recently, the Chamber of Mines and its social partners, government and organized labour have been working together, through the Mining Industry Growth, Development, Employment Task Team (MIGDETT), to minimize mining job losses in the wake of the current financial crisis and to find longer term solutions that would see the industry emerging from this economic downturn much stronger and able to take advantage of any emerging opportunities. Our approach in this exercise was to find lasting and sustainable solutions in line with the spirit of the President’s remarks. We therefore subscribe fully to the statement that ‘it is more important now than ever that we work in partnership on a common programme to respond to this crisis’”, said Mr Diliza Mr Diliza also welcomed the President’s remark regarding interventions to create “an enabling environment for investment” as well as reducing the cost of doing business in South Africa. “We welcome this direction as it will go a long way in attracting foreign investments to this country and contribute towards job creation and poverty reduction”, said Mr Diliza. Expressing regret that the President did not mention mining in his remarks, Mr Diliza said “Mining employs about 500 000 people whose income benefits up to 5 million people. The minerals industry accounts for over half of the country’s merchandise exports, directly and indirectly accounts for about 17% of GDP and is a key magnet for attracting foreign investment to South Africa with mining accounting for about 35% of the value of the JSE. “The mining sector is a substantial contributor to transformation in the economy with greater than R140 billion worth of BEE deals done in the last decade, is a major procurer of goods and services, with R143 billion in local procurement and is a critically important industrial cluster for the economy”, concluded Mr Diliza.

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Jabu Maphalala
Deputy Communications Adviser
Chamber of Mines of South Africa