A bourgeois reform with social justice? The contradictions of the Minerals Development Bill and black economic empowerment in the South African platinum mining industry

Abstract

Since assuming power in 1994, the African National Congress has pursued an ambitious policy of ‘modernising’ the minerals and mining sector in line with its overarching goal of developing an internationally competitive, non-racial and socially stabilised South African capitalism. This is a materialist analysis of the measures and evolution of that policy in the critically contested period between the release of the Minerals Development Bill (MDB) (December 2000) and its promulgation as the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act (October 2002). Despite its apparent radicalism, the bill's core proposal to nationalise mineral rights is a variant of what Marx termed a ‘Ricardian reform’, here designed to accelerate capital accumulation by eliminating the barrier of private minerals ownership. Yet, the MDB also married this classically bourgeois reform with a nationalist commitment to racially transform the structure of mine ownership, thus embodying key contradictions of South Africa's democratic transition in the era of neoliberalism. The struggle over the final form and benefits of the new minerals dispensation would be centred on the platinum industry, where the established (white) producers had the most to lose from the legal abolition of the old mineral property system in favour of the nationalisation and strategic redistribution of the resource base. [Une réforme bourgeoise avec une justice sociale ? Les contradictions du Projet de loi de Développement des Minéraux et l'Emancipation Economique des Noirs dans l'industrie minière du platine d'Afrique du Sud]. Depuis son arrivée au pouvoir en 1994, l'ANC a poursuivi une politique ambitieuse de la ≪ modernisation ≫ du secteur des minerais et des mines en accord avec son objectif global de développer un capitalisme propre à l'Afrique du sud, compétitif au niveau international, non racialement ségrégationniste et socialement fiable. Il s'agit d'une analyse matérialiste des mesures et de l'évolution de cette politique dans la période gravement contestée entre la sortie du Projet de Loi sur le Développement des Minéraux (MDB décembre 2000) et sa promulgation en tant que loi du Développement des Ressources Pétrolières et Minérales (octobre 2002). Malgré son radicalisme apparent, la proposition de base du projet de loi visant à nationaliser les droits miniers est une variante de ce que Marx appelait une ≪ réforme ricardienne ≫, ici conçue pour accélérer l'accumulation du capital en éliminant la barrière de la propriété privée des minéraux. Cependant le MDB a également épousé cette réforme bourgeoise classique avec un engagement nationaliste de transformer radicalement la structure de la propriété minière, incarnant ainsi les contradictions clés de la transition démocratique en Afrique du Sud à l'ère du néolibéralisme. La lutte pour la forme finale et les avantages de la nouvelle dispensation sur les minéraux seraient centrés sur l'industrie du platine, où les producteurs (blancs) établis avaient le plus à perdre de l'abolition légale du système de propriété minérale ancienne en faveur de la nationalisation et de la redistribution stratégiques de la base de ressources. Mots-clés: l'ANC; l'émancipation économique des Noirs; les droits miniers; la nationalisation; l'industrie du platine; la politique des ressources; la réforme ricardienne

Social policy in South Africa: Navigating the route to social development

“…As a significant effort to re-direct market-based approaches and business interests towards the achievement of explicitly social objectives, these initiatives do represent an intersection between transformative and residual policy frameworks. They also serve to some extent to influence the role of non-state actors and markets in social provisioning and protection (Capps, 2013;Cronje et al, 2014). The existence and scale of CSI programmes and SLPs demonstrates some commitment to the post-apartheid consensus and transformative constitutional policy framework embodied in mining legislation, regulations and codes of conduct.…”

Tribal‐Landed Property: The Value of the Chieftaincy in Contemporary Africa

“…Released for public consultation as the Minerals Development Bill in October 2000 and eventually promulgated as the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA) in December 2002, this policy had two key components (Capps ). First, the state would assume ‘custodianship’ of all mineral resources in South Africa, ending the existence of mineral rights as a form of property.…”

“…However, the policy made an important exception for ‘black communities’ that had historically been in receipt of mineral royalty. These could continue receiving that revenue, so long as it was used for purposes of socio‐economic development, a condition that would be monitored and enforced through new mechanisms of regulation by the central state (Capps , 330). Faced with the loss of its hard‐won economic independence, the initial reaction of the Bafokeng tribal authority was to oppose the policy, while trying to negotiate an exemption.…”

Labour in the time of platinum

“…While labour was not the only element of the cost base that had inflated prior to 2012 -power and transport were other key components -it was the only one over which the producers exercised direct control, and hence where they would first look for savings in an effort to restore cash flow and address the clamour for 'shareholder value'. But their position was further worsened by the fact that the ANC's policy reforms, most notably the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (2002), had not only compelled the established producers to take on new Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) partners -its principal means of promoting an African capitalist class -but had also eroded their historic monopoly over the mineral resource base and opened the field to new, international entrants, above all junior miners from Canada and Australia (Capps 2012b). Meanwhile, the secondary supply of platinum from recycling had quadrupled since 2000, and the market price was further depressed by a steady flow from vast above-ground stocks, which had previously been hoarded by an opaque combination of producers, end users and speculators.…”

“…Overall, the sector achieved a return on capital of over 20%, turning it into the star mining stock of the international bourses. What had hitherto been a relatively marginal industry, had thus emerged as the most dynamic element of the post-apartheid mining economy, and was now also fast becoming the focal point of efforts by the ANC government to simultaneously promote a new black bourgeoisie at its commanding heights -a process most graphically personified by the elevation of Cyril Ramaphosa, a former General Secretary of both the NUM and the ANC, to the Lonmin board of directorsand reverse years of manufacturing decline through the development of a new mineralsbased industrialisation strategy (ANC 2012;Capps 2012b;Fine 2012).…”