Department of Mineral Resources plays Russian roulette with economy – Solidarity
21 June 2017
The Solidarity Research Institute (SRI) today expressed huge concern about the 2017 Mining Charter published in the Government Gazette this month.
According to SRI Head Connie Mulder, the charter is a recipe for an economic disaster in the mining industry. The importance of mining as an industry that is central to the South African economy cannot be underestimated. With this charter that is in essence significantly worse than the already worrying 2016 draft charter that has come in for heavy criticism from local and international experts, the Department of Mineral Resources is, as it were, playing Russian roulette with the South African economy,” Mulder said.
According to Mulder, it is obvious that the charter’s conceivable economic consequences have not been given any reasonable consideration at all, are underestimated or, at worse it is indeed so by design.
“More than before the current 2017 charter is in direct conflict with any reasonable views on freedom of economic affairs, such as ownership, shareholding and entrepreneurship. In essence, it even constitutes a break with the moderate provisions for a so-called “mixed economy”. It is a policy markedly designed by ANC government officials and, owing to socialist and racially-based policies coming from above, it unashamedly flies in the face of market freedom,” Mulder cautioned.