JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – It was time for all South Africans to stand together to say “no” to intimidation and violence against people and property, Chamber of Mines of South Africa president Mark Cutifani said on Thursday night.

Speaking at a packed gala dinner at the culmination of the three-day Mining Lekgotla, Cutifani, who is also CEO of Anglo American – South Africa’s largest mining company – urged South Africans to be committed to the new South Africa the founding fathers envisaged.

Cutifani, who received a standing ovation, was applauded continually during his powerful and at one stage extremely emotional and tearful address.

“We must all stand together and refuse to allow these cowards, thugs and murderers to intimidate people, destroy our businesses, our industry and our country,” the Australian-born mining leader said, adding that he had been inspired by people who put the country’s interests first.

Earlier in the week, National Union of Mineworkers president Senzeni Zokwana told the Mining Lekgotla that vital productivity improvements would elude South Africa's mining industry for as long as mineworkers were killed because of their union affiliation and lawlessness was allowed to prevail.

Cutifani urged South Africans to have the courage to make the tough choices to take their mining industry to the top level.

"Do we have the love for the country that will enable us to put our personal interests aside to help build a country for all.

"The future of our country is in our hands – but it is also in the hands of those who can do much damage," Cutifani said.

In the end the country's future would be written by those who cared enough to take a stand against dark figures that lurked in the shadows.

"Now is the time to act, now is the time to create the new South Africa," he said, to prolonged and thunderous applause.

Cutifani urged South Africans to be proud of their achievements, which he said had been remarkable since 1994, with the government building more than three-million houses for South Africans, providing shelter for more than 13-million people.

At the start, only 62% of households had access to clean drinking water compared with 93% today.

Some 84% currently shared the benefits of electricity compared with only 36% before.

The country was in the middle of one of the greatest social reconstructions the world had ever seen. 

While he understood the frustration of those that had yet to share in that reconstruction, the country’s citizens needed, nevertheless, to keep reminding themselves of where they had come from, so that they could understand what needed to be done to keep going forward.

He emphasised the importance of mining, which was responsible for 19% of all economic activity in South Africa.

The products of mining supported another 25% of industrial and other economic activities.

“The mining industry may seem old-fashioned to some, but it plays an important role in modern life. Everything we depend on is either made from, or relies on minerals, for its production.

“So considering the various mining applications and its subsequent downstream beneficiation, the sector’s impact is far bigger than people may think,” the chamber president said.

Some 99% of South Africa’s cement was manufactured locally from locally mined products; 30% of the country’s liquid fuels were produced from locally mined coal; 94% of electricity was produced from locally mined coal; most of the country’s domestic chemicals, fertilisers, waxes, polymers and plastics were made using locally mined minerals and coal.

Overall, another R300-billion in sales value and 200 000 jobs were created in the downstream beneficiation industries.

Extra value was being created where the commercial opportunities existed, especially for communities in neighbouring mining operations.

“So, importantly, when we discuss the mining sector’s contribution to beneficiation and the impact that mining natural resources has on benefiting the nation and the world as a whole, know that we’re already making an impressive impact,” Cutifani added.