Neal Froneman, Sibanye-Stillwater’s CEO, said of the current investment context: ‘…if investors are going to be constantly threatened with expropriation without compensation and nationalisation of mines, they’re just not going to invest, it doesn’t matter what systems you put in place.’
According to an interview with the Sunday Times: ‘Investment is on strike despite the president claiming all this investment is coming into the country. Most of it is companies investing in ensuring they can provide power for themselves through renewable energy and can lower their carbon footprint. It’s not the capital investment in fixed assets and growth of the industry that will create jobs.’
The long delayed new mining cadastre system, to rescue the chaos surrounding applications for mining and exploration licences, won’t on its own make much of a difference.
Recently announced redundancies are due to plunging commodity prices and years of misgovernment.
‘A government that has lost control of Transnet, forcing us to truck at prohibitive cost our chrome ore, a bulk commodity which should go on rail. A government whose mismanagement of Eskom has seen one of our biggest costs, electricity, escalate by a ridiculous 12%, 14%, 15%.’
Froneman is in charge of the business workstream on crime and corruption, which seems to be having little tangible effect. ‘Law enforcement is so broken and the wheels of justice turn so slowly. I’m confident we’ll be successful but it’s going to happen over a multiyear timeframe’.
‘South Africa desperately needs new leadership and new thinking that involves being business friendly, because there’s no solution to poverty and inequality unless you create employment. The private sector is good at doing that. Nurture the private sector and it will deliver.’