BusinessLive reports that the North Gauteng High Court has found for the Chamber of Mines of SA in its application for a declaratory order around the interpretation of the "once empowered, always empowered" aspect of the Mining Charter.
This comes after a long-running dispute with the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) on the matter. The Chamber had argued that, according to its interpretation of the Charter — which outlines requirements for the racial transformation of the SA mining sector — once a company had put an empowerment structure in place there were continuing benefits flowing from such a transaction and companies were not obliged to perpetually top up black economic empowerment (BEE) levels when those partners left. The DMR, however, argued that mining companies always had to have at least 26% black ownership, replacing expired deals with fresh transactions. The ruling comes at a time when the DMR, under new minister Gwede Mantashe, and the Chamber have started talks around a new charter to replace its second iteration, which is currently in force. A third iteration, introduced in June 2017, was suspended and challenged in a now-postponed court action.
- Read this report by Allan Seccombe in full at BusinessLive
- Read too, Court grants declaratory order on 'once empowered always empowered' BEE transactions, at Fin24
- And also, High Court backs 'once empowered, always empowered' principle, at Mining Weekly
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page