Gwede Mantashe
Photo by: Duane Daws
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – African National Congress (ANC) secretary-general Gwede Mantashe has highlighted the importance of forming partnerships within the mining industry to ensure a successful future.
"Partnerships need to be structured in such a way as to ensure that each participant is able to attain a successful future, despite the compromises made to ensure this," he said during his keynote speech at the Joburg Indaba on Wednesday.
Although Mantashe believed that South Africa's mining industry was bullish, he noted that the mining industry had a negative narrative, which was influencing the level at which it was being ranked when compared with other industries.
To change this negative narrative, the ANC wanted South Africa to establish a mining champion and mining company of substance within the country’s borders.
Mantashe was of the view that the creation of a local mining champion would ensure that national interests were taken to heart.
"When we change our narrative to a positive one, we will be able to change the way in which the country's mining sector is viewed, which will, in turn, positively affect investment and the way our country is viewed on an international level," he told delegates at the event.