South Africa adopts new mining charter to correct economic inequalities

The South African government has unveiled a new mining charter that requires mining companies to increase the share of their shareholding owned by blacks from 26 to 30% of their capital.
According to mines minister Gwede Mantashe, speaking on Thursday (September 27th) to the press, this measure aims to correct the economic inequalities inherited from apartheid. “This distribution must be effective in the next five years and must be distributed among employees (at least 5%), the communities that shelter the mines (at least 5%) and entrepreneurs (at least 20%)”. he added.
The authority to point out that the new charter, which was the subject of seven months of heated debate between the government and the mining industry, was adopted by “consensus among stakeholders”.
Indeed, 24 years after the official end of the apartheid regime, the country’s wealth still remains largely concentrated in the hands of the white minority, which represents 8% of the South African population.
As a reminder, the mining sector employs some 460,000 people in South Africa, but contributes only 5.1% of its revenues.