Sure it’s a crisis – but this is a healthy one
13 September, 2012
As the Financial Meltdown’s dust was settling, the Sage of Omaha mused that how we should never waste a good Crisis. Warren Buffett was referring to structural issues in the global banking system. Suggesting Main Street’s anxiety would spur regulators to do the right thing. But watching the past week’s media circus starring the arch opportunist from Limpopo, I can’t help thinking how well Buffett’s advice travels.
For a couple decades, mining has been the New South Africa’s dirty little secret. Our economy still relies too heavily on riches scratched from the deepest working tunnels on earth. At great human cost. A cost reflected in a public roll of dishonour published quarterly by local mining groups. Public reports that list dozens of fresh names; those of yet more miners who died in the workplace.
During investor-focused meetings, hand-wringing mining executives talk of redoubling safety efforts. Some crassly highlight lower deaths as evidence of how their management intervention is working. Then swiftly move along to the more “interesting” stuff like operational throughput and recovery grades. Economic pragmatism taken to the extreme.
Then again, perhaps it’s simply another indictment of a country where democracy’s cornerstone, the sanctity of life, has never really caught on. Every car cruising through a red robot is a reminder we live a land where human road-kill is numbered by the thousand; where the odds of dying in your car is 10 times higher than in the rich north. To say nothing of the thousands of needless HIV-infected deaths of people denied anti-retrovirals by cultural bigotry or State incompetence.
The appalling violence at Marikana (pictured above), Gold One, Impala and now AngloPlats is a reminder that festering sores eventually erupt. How well intended decisions lead to unintended consequences. Like trade unions now so used to winning wage negotiations they refuse to even discuss productivity. Thereby sowing the seeds of future destruction. Or shack-lands on the doorstep of mines. Social time bombs created through living-out allowances, management’s expedient alternative to refurbishing in-mine accommodation.
I don’t share the angst of instant pundits warning so earnestly how the loud-mouthed man from Limpopo will spark a revolution. South Africa is not about to explode. If it were, Julius Malema’s well publicized meeting yesterday with soldiers would have drawn 60 000, not just 60. But a revolution in mining is long overdue. Its boil has been festering for decades. It needs lancing. But it’s not a reflection of South African society at large.
This resilient nation has been through far worse. And in its current President, has a cool head; a Paul Kruger patiently waiting for the modern day Jameson to stick its tortoise neck out just far enough. So don’t panic. This too shall pass. And with a bit of luck, could even deliver a positive result. A Crisis indeed. But one that won’t necessarily be wasted.
