Covid-19 plunged Africa's most-industrialised country — home to the biggest deposits of metals ranging from platinum to chrome and manganese — into the deepest economic contraction in more than a quarter century, and its aftermath has left it with soaring inflation, one of the world's highest unemployment rates and a collapse of local government services.
Already last year, Canada's Fraser Institute's Annual Survey of Mining Companies, a global industry benchmark , ranked South Africa at 75th out of 84 jurisdictions, compared with 60th in 2020 and 40th in 2019.
"We told Transnet that if you don't give us a chance to work, we are going to close the site," he said in an interview."We have only one weapon. We just stop the site, you can't continue working. If you don't give us a piece of the cake, that's the solution. We just stop the site, that's the way of making somebody understand better…. the best way is to stop you until you cooperate.
"This is definitely the final nail in the coffin of investment," James Lorimer, the main opposition party Democratic Alliance's shadow minister for mineral resources, said in an interview."I have no faith that the government is going to act coherently over time to bring down these problems. There's no political will, that's quite obvious."
To top managers at Impala, the letter — a copy of which was obtained by Bloomberg — was an effort to get it to redirect some contracts to Banaef members via a veiled threat from Executive Outcomes, which in the 1990s helped governments in Sierra Leone and Angola fight armed rebels.
Impala declined to comment on the Executive Outcomes letter. Often, groups demanding business want to provide products like diesel, explosives or uniforms, which the mining companies can get directly from the manufacturers at a much lower cost, said Johan Theron, an Impala spokesman. While black-owned companies' participation in the sector has increased, many smaller firms are still excluded because they just can't afford the machinery and equipment required, said Jonathan Leso, executive director of African Sun Mining, a black-owned contractor. That said, black businesses are also often targets of the gangs, he said.
Security costs have surged and Impala alone has about seven ban orders against various groups interfering with its business, a person familiar with the situation said, asking not to be named for fear of being attacked. One group is currently threatening to burn buses used to ferry employees to the mine unless it is awarded contracts, the person said.
_Business That is what you get when you campaign for a smaller state and budget cuts
_Business Maybe foreign mining companies should leave South Africa That mineral wealth belongs to South Africans
_Business Because our police, legal system and govt are complicit and corrupt so there’s no arrests or consequences! Free reign to criminals!!
_Business Finally the shit hit the fan. Wait for to come. It's just around the corner. Juicy for sure 😉.
_Business And they all connected to anc cadres?
_Business aka greedy corruption cANCer being responsible
United States United States Latest News, United States United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: allafrica - 🏆 1. / 99 Read more »