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Carbon Tax
(National Union of Mineworkers, 2013-08-01) National Union of Mineworkers
The effect of labour unrest in the mines on skills development and training
(National Union of Mineworkers, 2014) Montoedi, Tshimane
“Labour unrest in the mining sector does not have a direct effect on skills development and training” Rather “Lack of skills development and training has been a cause of labour unrest in the sector” It is important to get the direction of causality right
Research on Challenges Facing Women in the Workplace (Mining, Construction and Energy Sectors)
(Sam Tambani Research Institute, 2014)
1.Investigate challenges facing women within the mining, energy and construction sectors 2.Assess the extent to which women have benefited from developments in their respective workplace 3.Identify areas for intervention based on women needs and expectations 4.To enable the union to assess and review internal processes with a view of coming up with solutions\interventions to address women-specific challenges as identified
Women Structure Report To 06th National Women’s Conference
(National Union of Mineworkers, 2014-11) Letlala, Faith
-Feedback on the women structure performance –achievement and challenges -Analyses sustainability of women structure at national and regional levels -Discusses structure’s participation in national and international Women movements and forums -Includes with regional reports
Quarterly Research Report
(Sam Tambani Research Institute, 2015) Sam Tambani Research Institute
Quarterly Report
AMD and the Mining Sector Contribution to the South African Economy
(Sam Tambani Research Institute, 2015) Sam Tambani Research Institute
Debate on how to make the mining sector in South Africa benefit more people and subsequently enhance the sector’s contribution to national development has tended to ignore that mining activities have negative effects to society. These negative effects, which economists broadly refer to as negative externalities of production, are important in assessing the short term and long term benefits of mining activities. Without taking into account the externalities, the sector’s contribution to the country’s economy is likely to be exaggerated. The chapter discusses the performance and contribution of the mining sector to the South African economy taking into account the negative externality element of the Acid Mine Drainage (AMD). It makes the case that profit and production levels for the sector have been kept higher than the optimal levels as a result of not taking into account the AMD. It suggests that this aspect need to be the acknowledged in national policy debates and in policy formulation aimed at sustaining the country’s benefit from mining activities. Otherwise the current and future contribution of mining to the local economy will remain distorted.
Potential Solutions to Economic Exclusion of the Youth, particularly Women in South Africa
(National Union of Mineworkers, 2015) Mgotywa, Sabelo
Definition of Economic Exclusion (EE) Extent of the Problem Proposed Potential Solutions to EE: Legislative Solution Economic Solution (Economic and Industrial Policies) Political Solution Societal Value System NUM Experience on EE
Contextualizing of Organized Labour Position on Carbon Tax in South Africa using a Qualitative System Dynamics Model
(Sam Tambani Research Institute, 2015-07) Kaggwa, Martin
South Africa (SA) Carbon Tax Policy (CTP): structure and arguments for and against The conventional one way causal model of SA’s Carbon Tax Policy SA Carbon Tax Policy as Qualitative System Dynamics (SD) Model Insights from SA’s CTP articulated as SD Model Conclusion and recommendations
Challenges Facing Women In The Mining, Energy And Construction Sectors: Survey Report (Highveld, North East And The Eastern Cape Regions)
(Sam Tambani Research Institute, 2015-07-28) Kaggwa, Martin
Quarterly Research Report (January – April 2016)
(Sam Tambani Research Institute, 2016) Sam Tambani Research Institute
Sam Tambani Research Institute
A systems dynamics approach to understanding the biofuels socio-technical transition.
(Sam Tambani Research Institute, 2016) Stafford, W; Simelane, T; Kaggwa, Martin; Mutanga, Shingirirai
Biofuels are renewable energy sources that are alternatives to petroleum fossil-fuels. Since energy is a domestic necessity and also a factor of production (enabling a variety of services such as transportation, heating, and food production), the widespread production and use of biofuels can facilitate low-carbon, resource-efficient and socially inclusive economic development. However, biofuels do not automatically deliver these development benefits. If managed incorrectly, biomass can be harvested at unsustainable rates, cause increases in emissions and environmental pollution, displace food security and livelihoods, and increase poverty. Therefore, appropriate management and governance will be needed to ensure that the biofuels transition is tailored to the local social, economic, and ecological context. Responding to this challenge dictates that new concepts and research tools be applied to represent and model complex systems. In addition, a multi-level perspective is needed to reveal the scale and levels of hierarchy in the system and understand the biofuels market uptake and diffusion. This chapter uses System Dynamics tools and a multi-level approach in order to reveal the various factors that will influence the transition to a biofuels socio-technical system, and to identify components that will regulate the behaviour of the biofuels system. Different stages of the biofuels system (biofuel feedstock production, biofuels production, and biofuels market uptake) were analysed using Causal loop diagrams in order to identify influencing variables and reveal important regulating feedback loops that determine the systems behaviour. This revealed that the transition to a sustainable biofuels future would require a spectrum of wide interrelated changes. The multidimensional shift from the current fossil based regime to a biofuels regime will require changes in technology, markets, user practices, social and cultural preference, policy and governance. Considering the established petroleum dependency of the existing energy system, the transition to a biofuels future will need a coordinated and systems approach so that biofuels contribute to a new green economy and a sustainable development pathway.
Job Losses In The Mining Industry Minerals And Petroleum Board
(National Union of Mineworkers, 2016) National Union of Mineworkers
Can mining, sustainable development and mitigating effects of climate change be mutually inclusive? A reflection on South Africa’s situation
(Sam Tambani Research Institute, 2016) Kaggwa, Martin
Central to Sustainable Development (SD) is the improvement of people’s welfare in perpetuity SD is based on the understanding that development of any country depletes a country’s resources needed to sustain it Implementation of development initiatives often has unintended negatives developing over time such as climate change Achieving higher levels of economic growth is a necessarily but not sufficient condition for SD To achieve SD, natural-resource rich countries have to exploit these resources to trigger the required economic growth! Exploiting the natural resources is inherently non-sustainable
The State of Transformation in South Africa’s Energy, Mining and Construction Sectors
(Sam Tambani Research Institute, 2016) Sam Tambani Research Institute
The exclusionary policies of apartheid systematically marginalised the majority of South Africans from partaking in the economic activities of their country. The Mining Charter and the B-BBEE codes were introduced to facilitate transformation in the mining, construction and energy sectors. This paper examines the extent to which the objectives of the Mining Charter and the B-BBEE codes have been achieved in the mining, construction and energy sectors. The findings show that some progress has been made in terms of compliance, however transformation has not occurred at the intended rate. It is recommended that unions need to find space to be part of the mining Charter and B-BBEE compliance auditing processes. Furthermore, workers must be sensitised on the requirements of the mining Charter and BBBEE codes and be empowered to report, continually on progress made at the workplace towards meeting these requirements, within their own structures.
Contextualising of Organised Labour’s Position on Carbon Tax in South Africa Using a Qualitative System Dynamics Model
(Sam Tambani Research Institute, 2016) Kaggwa, Martin
The South African government planned to introduce a carbon tax from 2013 as part of its efforts to reduce pollution levels emanating from domestic economic activities. The position of organised labour has, however, ranged from outright rejection to requests for a delay in implementation of the policy until employment safe-guards are put in place. Organised labour felt strongly that a carbon tax would have a negative impact on local employment. This paper examines the validity of organised labours’ concerns on possible job losses using a qualitative system dynamics approach. A case is made that despite being set at low levels, the carbon tax has potential to negatively affect competitiveness of firms in the long term. The potential job loss from the carbon tax will not necessarily be a result of increases in the immediate operational costs of firms, but rather from the loss of firms’ competitiveness in the long term. It is recommended that the implementation of the carbon tax be put on hold until safe-guards to local employment are put in place. One of the possible safeguards is to ensure that local manufacturers have access to low cost but clean production technologies that do not substitute the local labour force but rather supplement its productivity.
Union and business efforts to increase productivity in the mining sector: A critical Reflection
(Sam Tambani Research Institute, 2016-02) Kaggwa, Martin
The aim of this paper is to examine the practicality of how mineworkers, organised under a trade union, can participate in employers’ productivity-increasing initiatives in a mutually beneficial way in South Africa. A critical analysis of the concept of productivity and its practical application in the mining business environment, including the aspect of relationship dynamics between mineworkers and employers is done. It is highlighted that defining productivity in the sector is subjective and characterised by information asymmetry in favour of the employers. Moreover, low productivity has frequently been used as a reason against mineworkers’ quest for higher wages; as a result, the concept is viewed with suspicion by mineworkers. For a trade union to aggressively encourage its members to participate in productivity initiatives at the workplace, it needs to get some assurance that its members will benefit from the resultant increase in productivity. This will require that mineworkers and employers have a prior agreement on the definition of productivity, the parameters to measure it, and the extent to which a change in productivity will influence workers’ wages and benefits. Given the precedent of mineworkers’ exploitation and the existing trust deficit between parties in South Africa’s mining sector, the onus lies on the side of mining businesses to demonstrate and convince unions that the productivity initiatives are not just another tool to exploit workers. Otherwise, there is no doubt that increased productivity can be beneficial for both mining businesses and mineworkers
Modelling the Effect of Carbon Tax on high emission sectors employment using a System Dynamics Model
(Sam Tambani Research Institute, 2016-11-17) Kaggwa, Martin
Global warming is no longer a contested phenomenon –the issue is how to deal with it! SA government recognizes that the country is vulnerable to effects of climate change. Introduction of a CT is one of the policy interventions by SA government to mitigate global warming. Position of organized labour on the introduction of a CT has ranged from outright rejection to requesting delay in its implementation. Impact of a CT on employment in South Africa still uncertain. As a contribution to the debate, a SD is used to model the effect of CT on employment in high emission sectors.
Mining Sector Wage Structuring
(Sam Tambani Research Institute, 2017) Pulane Mafoea-Nkalai
Wages and salaries are the key factors that determine labour cost for employers and they are source of income to the employees. This information is critical to policy guidance and relevant in the day to day business decision making. Wages and salaries are not protected to international competition based on inflation and the fluctuation of the currency. Not only workers contest with fellow colleagues on domestic labour markets and better income, but also compete with foreigners. Even though international competition fills the skills shortage but worsens the gap along other dimensions. Countries with an open labor are mostly affected by the circumstance of international competition (Tong, 2012). South Africa is a country plagued with unemployment and poverty, and is a desperately unequal society. An enormous percentage of the South African population is either not working or if they are, they are in the informal sector where salaries are generally low. If you compare South African miner’s salaries to major developing world countries, such as China and India, then South African miners are not doing too badly in the pay stakes, and they appear to be earning slightly more than some of the Chinese and Indian miners. At around R 6 000 a month (which is roughly $ 730 per month) they are in a better position than many other miners in developing countries. However when you compare the salaries of South African miners to developed countries such as Australia, Canada and the USA, then South African miner’s salaries really are dismal (Kihn, 2012). To put things into perspective, according to the results of a salary survey, a miner in Canada with 6 – 10 years’ experience will earn a base pay (excluding benefits) of around $4150K (R53,610.64) a month. This is nearly six times what a miner in South Africa would be earning. Whereas if you compare the salaries of professional, skilled workers in South Africa, such as an Engineering Manager, they would be earning roughly the same, as what they would be earning in Canada (Kihn, 2012). The mining industry in South Africa is one of the main contributors to the economy. The Department of Minerals and Energy estimates that until 2007 gold contributed to 5.4% of the country’s GDP, and South Africa produces nearly 90% of the platinum metals on earth, 80% of the manganese, 73% of the chrome, 45% of the vanadium and 41% of the gold (Department of Minerals and Energy, 2009). The industry attracts migrants from various parts of the country and from other countries in the region. It is estimated that about 60% of workers in the mining sector in South Africa are from neighboring countries, mainly from Lesotho, Mozambique and Swaziland (Mining Sector Report, 2010).
Energy Mix Choices And The Protection Of Workers’ Interests In South Africa
(Sam Tambani Research Institute, 2017-06) Sam Tambani Research Institute
In March 2011, the South African Government through the Department of Energy (DoE) published the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) 2010-30. The plan, according to DoE, was aimed at ensuring secure and sustainable provision of energy for socio- economic development of the country. Recommendations in the plan include diversifying power sources and broadening electricity supply technologies to include gas, nuclear, biomass and renewable energy resources (wind, solar and hydro), to meet the country’s future electricity needs. However, since the IRP release, a number of changes have taken place in the energy sectors, including changes pertaining demands and use of energy, hence the government has invited public comment and input to the IRP. The recent power shortages and subsequent load shedding experienced by the country, on one hand, and the increasing recognition of the climate change problem have brought home the fact that the South Africa requires a mix of all possible energy sources to meet its energy demand. Moreover, it has to do so while cutting down on its carbon dioxide emissions, emanating especially from coal burning power generation and whilst ensuring that the price of power remains affordable. Due to an increase in the consumption of electricity, which is expected to be twice the current levels by 2030, the country faces the challenge of establishing sustainable energy systems in the face of climate change (Kiratu, 2010). These pressures imply not only generating more electricity, but ensuring that energy efforts are steered towards a lower carbon future and underpinned by attention to issues of equity and justice. This discussion paper describes the current energy situation in South Africa, existing and emerging challenges and opportunities from labour perspective. It attempts to bring together available information on the current employment trends, health and safety implications, the costs and linkages to other sectors of different energy sources. The purpose of this paper is not to propose particular choices or solutions, but rather to make available to the National Union of Mineworkers some background information and analysis on the energy choices confronting South Africa and the possible effect to workers of specific choices. This paper’s information is drawn mainly from the presentations and discussions that took place at the NUM/SATRI Energy Symposium that took place in May 2017. Although the Symposium raised a very wide range of influences and pressures on energy choices, the paper maintains a focus on the more factual labour-focused issues underpinned by pursuing energy sources, not only for greater energy security and or environmental considerations, but also for the socio-economic development. The employment dimension of the energy sector is given ample attention.
Exploring the Transformative Likelihood of Mine Community Development Programmes
(Sam Tambani Research Institute, 2018) Pulane Mafoea-Nkalai
The South African Mining Charter requires that mining houses include community development projects as part of their social labour plans. These community development projects are aimed at uplifting communities in and around the mines. However, very often mine communities do not benefit from mining developments. This article outlines the community development approach and framework as a conceptual and methodological tool for understanding what constitutes community development, especially in the context of mining. It argues that the principles of active participation, empowerment, and life-long learning are central to understanding community practices; these principles should inform any developmental interventions. If mine community development projects are to significantly benefit the local people, community projects should be well defined and distinguished from company-oriented projects (CSR). Local people should participate in the designing and monitoring of the success and impact of community development projects.

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