The last week has been a very sobering week for us South Africans. We had a taste of things to come. The last 18 years we have seen the expectations of 50 Million people turn from joy to frustration.
The problems aren’t going away. We sit behind our keyboards and slay the ANC daily on here but nobody is interested in our warnings. The plundering of state resources simply continues and our white voices sit helplessly and watch the demise of the plight of the disadvantaged.
We have a few bright sparks on News24 and I think the time has come for us to start putting our heads together and start finding solutions for these time bombs we are sitting on. We should each take these matters up with our DA councillors and start taking action. The ANC isn’t doing anything to better the lives of these people and it is up to us to lead the process. To sit and switch our computers off and hope these issues will resolve themselves won’t work much longer.
We all know nationalisation will be the death of the mining industry, but we have to start listening to the mine workers. We can’t deny that our fellow black South Africans haven’t benefited from the underground wealth. Neither have the majority of us whites for that matter. But that is not the issue. We were bred differently to make lives for ourselves in other sectors of the economy. Our mindset isn’t going to bring solutions to the problem however.
I suggest we start with the manner in which mining licenses are awarded. Currently we sit with a very highly undesirable situation where there is far too little responsibility being attached to a mining license. We see how reckless the mining companies are that go out of business.
When a license is awarded there should be a compulsory fund established to safeguard us the tax payers from the atrocities of toxic water flowing into all our water sources. A mine should contribute towards this fund on an annual basis. A fund such as this needs to be managed by an auditing firm such Price Waterhouse and we must guard that any funds land in the hands of the ANC. We know that is the fastest way to corrupt plundering all over again.
A mining license should come with shareholding conditions. We could have the top tier investors and peg a return on their investment. Let us be generous and allow them a 20% return per annum. That is far more than they would get placing their investments in any banking institution.
The workers should have shareholding. They should get a dividend paid out to them annually. I believe we will get a lot further if the workers are represented on the board. There has to be better channels of communication between management and workers to avoid this massacre we saw this last week. If the gold/platinum/coal price fluctuates then this reality should be communicated to the workers so they slowly get an education of how the scales of economy work. We need to educate them. It is pointless not teaching them how world markets operate.
They should attend a weekly lecture on these financial realities. The issue should be brought to them in a simple understandable lecture.
I really believe by getting them involved in the well being of the mine would create a far more responsible workforce.
Mine workers should be provided with housing allowances. It would allow them to buy houses or even build their own. The mine should guarantee the loans they obtain from a financial institution by deducting their payments from their salaries. This way we know the banks would be more responsive to grant loans.
A condition of the mining license must be to build a school in the vicinity of the mine. These schools should be treated as private schools and not depend on funding from the government. We have now experienced the absolute inability of the ANC to manage anything. School books can’t even be delivered seamlessly.
Help me think. Let us brainstorm this time bomb we are sitting on. We can’t leave these poor people to the mercy of the ANC any longer. We have no option but to step up to the plate and help find workable solutions to better their lives.
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