SA HAS lost R3.1bn in contributions to the fiscus due to strikes and other stoppages in the mining sector this year, President Jacob Zuma told the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) yesterday.
Total production losses amounted to R4.5bn in the platinum and gold sectors and R118m in the coal sector, Mr Zuma said. The strikes were also affecting the manufacturing sector — especially fabricated metals — and the sector was feeling the slowdown.
The estimate of lost tax revenue given by Mr Zuma is the first by the government, which is already expecting spending constraints in the coming budget cycle. It started the new budget cycle after the Cabinet lekgotla last month.
Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Sunday "the revenue loss is there" but there was no need yet to revisit the number for the 2012 budget.
In his address to the congress, Mr Zuma urged workers and employers to find a solution to the dispute.
"We cannot afford to go into a recession and revert to the 2008 and 2009 period where the country lost close to a million jobs, from which we are still battling to recover," Mr Zuma said.
He indicated that the government would hold the mining industry to social commitments in the Mining Charter. The industry has had "an unfortunate history" in the way it had treated workers.
"As a result, companies intending to invest in mining in SA must understand that they are expected to redress past imbalances in the mining industry.
"These past imbalances are related to the failure of the colonial system to invest in the labour force and the local economy and to protect the environment," he said.
In terms of the charter, companies were expected to both convert and upgrade former hostels into single and family quarters, as well as to promote home ownership by 2014.
The widespread practice of workers receiving a living-out allowance in lieu of this, "undermined" the campaign for better living conditions, Mr Zuma said.
"We should not listen to those who are making a career out of rubbishing our country and the gains of the national democratic revolution. The fact is that the ANC (African National Congress) government has reduced the numbers of people experiencing the worst levels of poverty significantly," he said.
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