PRETORIA (miningweekly.com) – Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe has committed to solving the problems of South Africa’s troubled mining industry.

“We’re going to leave no stone unturned to ensure that every problem that the stakeholders have identified is tackled and resolved,” Motlanthe told the gathering of the who’s who of South African mining.

Together with South Africa’s top mining company CEOs, union leaders and Cabinet Ministers, Motlanthe publicly committed to dealing with stakeholder proposals aimed at restoring security and law and order; strengthening the labour relations environment; improving human settlements in mining communities; promoting inclusivity and representation; supporting growth as a strategic sector of the South African economy and implementing and coordinating structures that make up the sector.

Redistributing the previously endorsed document outlining the framework for peace and stability in mining to all present, the former labour leader took over the task, begun by President Jacob Zuma in May, to stabilise the sector.

“We know this is not the first, nor will it be the last such meeting,” Motlanthe said, adding that the process had been greatly aided by all stakeholders grappling with the key issues, ahead of the meeting.

“We’ll seek to put together all of the lose threads, and we commit optimistically to finding solutions first to those issues that need immediate resolution and then avail ourselves to resolve those issues of a long-term nature,” he added.

Welcomed first were the delegations of the Federations of Unions of South Africa, the National Council of Trade Unions (Nactu) and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, followed by the Solidarity, the National Union of Mineworkers, the South African Mining Development Association and the Chamber of Mines delegations.

Prominent trade union federation, the Congress of South African Trade Unions, better known as Cosatu, whose leaders are attending the International Labour Organisation (ILO) meeting abroad, apologised for being unable to be present, as did Nactu's president and the country's Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant, who are also at the ILO meeting.

The issues that had been identified as creating the immediate obstacles to the normal operations of the mining industry, would be solved first.

“In adopting that approach, it does not suggest that [the consultative forum] regard the other problems as secondary. We commit to work together to create work streams to also solve those problems that require long-term solutions.

“We don’t want anyone to carry their problems alone, we’ve got to solve them together,” Motlanthe added, before requesting that the media absent themselves from further discussion and await a final declaration of the forum as a whole.