EFF MEMORANDUM TO THE CHAMBER OF MINES - 27 OCTOBER 2015

Memorandum to Chamber of Mines—27 October 2015

We the Economic Freedom Fighters, on behalf of all South Africans, young and old, poor and economically marginalized who wish to have access to decent housing, quality free healthcare services and education, quality drinking water, access to participate in the economy, food on the table, decent wage and sustainable employment, demand urgent and fast tracked active participation of the Chamber of Mines start a process of transfer of wealth to the rightful owners, people as a whole to achieve the objectives of the Freedom Charter and the 7 Cardinal Pillars for Economic Freedom in Our Lifetime.

The Chamber of Mines is a recipient of Economic Freedom Mass Action because of its role in the history of racialised economic development of South Africa. This includes, but not limited to development of an exclusively white mining capital with massive influence and contribution to legislation that subjugated, excluded, oppressed and super-exploited blacks and Africans in the entire mining value. Conditions that the Chamber of Mines is responsible for their persistence 

We come here carrying the burden of the millions of the economically excluded, subjugated, oppressed, exploited and depressed South Africans in the Economic Freedom Mass Action under the leadership of the Economic Freedom Fighters to make the following non-negotiable demands:

To the Chamber of Mines we demand the following:

1. Nationalisation of South Africa’s Mines. The State should own and control a minimum of 60% of South Africa’s mines without compensation.
2. A minimum wage of R12 500, better salaries and wages for all mineworkers, and provision of full employment for workers currently employed as contract workers.
3. An immediate end and moratorium of retrenchments of workers in all Mining companies.
4. Local beneficiation and industrialisation of a minimum of 60% of the minerals extracted from beneath South Africa’s soil. The beneficiation should happen in the communities where mining happens.
5. Usage of locally produced goods and services for the upstream and downstream mining economic activities with the aim of expanding the economy and creating durable jobs.
6. Provision of education, skills and expertise to South African youth in order to capacitate them to play a meaningful role in the entire mining value-chain.
7. Betterment of working conditions in all mines to prevent avoidable fatalities and diseases.
8. Construction and building of better houses for all Mineworkers, with proper sanitation, electricity, water, schools, hospitals, sporting facilities and all other basic needs.
9. We demand all mining companies to offer explanations on why they have not complied with the required social labour plans expected from each mining company.
10. An end to base erosion, transfer pricing and profit shifting by all mining companies that have trading subsidiaries in the tax havens.
11. An end to creation of shelf companies in tax havens, which serve as nothing but mechanism to avoid taxes through intra-company trade.
12. An end to import-parity pricing on the South Africa minerals to boost the manufacturing, industrialisation and infrastructure development.
13. Active involvement of mining corporations in the development of mining communities, particularly on the construction and maintenance of roads, health facilities, schools, technical training colleges, and other public infrastructure.
14. Local manufacturing of supplies and other necessities required for mining, including beneficiation and industrialisation.
15. Development of a concrete social and labour development model, which will ensure that communities around the Mines are developed out of the proceeds of Mining,
16. An end to threats of disinvestment by Mining Capital.
17. Compensation of mining communities that continue to suffer diseases and infections as a result of Mining and minerals’ extraction, particularly the asbestos communities.
18. We demand the compensation of the families of all mineworkers who were injured in Marikana massacre and the compensation of the families that lost their family members during the massacre.
19. Mining companies must stop colluding with the State to kill workers who demand a living wage.
20. Compensation of all ex-Mineworkers who have contracted diseases during the course of work and have not been paid their pensions.
21. We demand the formal recognition and integration of small scale mining with proper safety standards in order to allow ordinary South Africans to participate in mining,

These demands are directed to all the Mining companies which continue to extract South Africa’s Mineral resources. We expect each and every mining company to respond to the demands we are making and propose concrete programme of action on each and every aspect of these demands. Failure to do so within 30 days, the EFF and the people of South Africa will target individual mines and close their operations until they come with commitments to meet our demands. 

We expect urgent action plans and programmes on these demands, on the view that non concession to these demands will lead to social instability due to continued economic exclusion of the black majority and Africans in particular. We will never allow Mining business to continue to extract and massively benefit from South Africa’s minerals whilst our communities are left with diseases, deeper poverty and degradation of infrastructure, rivers and environment.

These demands are genuine and should be acceded to with immediate effect, because we cannot afford to wait any longer.

Signed by the Chamber of Mines

_______________________________________

Signed by the Commander in Chief of the Economic Freedom Fighters 

______________________________________________

27 October 2015

Issued by the EFF, 27 October 2015