African Mining February 2022 | Page 33

BUSINESS •

OEM that brings in a complete machine which lands in a workshop duty-free . Not to mention the additional legislation local OEMs are required to comply with , from BBBEE to SARS requirements .

This makes for a playing field that is not level , says Molloyi , and puts South Africa ’ s OEMs at a disadvantage , especially when considering these foreign competitors also have the benefit of strong government funding as well as better interest rates offered by overseas financial institutions . This is an area that will be a focus for MEMSA in the future , through collaboration , to see how these playing fields can be evened out , with assistance from the dtic and DMRE .

BBBEE Molloyi shares that MEMSA is waiting in earnest for legislative / policy changes that might come as the DMRE has indicated that it will not be appealing the recent court ruling with regards to the Mining Charter , local content , and BEE levels . MEMSA has , historically , been guided by the Mining Charter , dtic and DSI in terms of member recruitment .

Members are required to be 26 % locally owned , with a minimum level 4 BBBEE status , with a percentage of local manufacturing ability at 60 %. “ This is not to say that non-compliant companies in search of membership are turned away ,” explains Molloyi . He points out that it is MEMSA ’ s strategy to collaborate with organisations such as the dtic to assist potential new nonqualifying members with solutions such as Employee Stock Ownership Plans ( ESOPs ), SED & Enterprise and Supplier Development , BEE partnership , to assist them in reaching the minimum BBBEE levels required . MEMSA is embarking on this kind of strategic collaboration with other associations where there is synergy , confident that these partnerships will enable collaboration that could go a long way to assist local manufacturers in best serving their clients .

Access to funding for R & D “ Part of MEMSA ’ s mandate is to grow the mining supply chain for South African manufacturing companies , but then also to look at the whole issue of research development and innovation , working very closely with Mining Precinct and the CSIR ,” says Molloyi . He points out that although many of the MEMSA members are investing in internal R & D , they face a very real challenge in accessing funding and grants timeously , with some innovations left in limbo .

MEMSA is tackling this challenge with the local government departments involved , and one of the obstacles cited has been the obvious Covid-19 hold-ups . MEMSA is therefore looking at ways of assisting members to fast-track the development of mining innovations through a committee known as the South African Mining Extraction Research Development and Innovation Committee ( SAMERDI ). This committee has representation from the Mandela Precinct , MEMSA , DSI , the Minerals Council South Africa , DMRE and the CSIR , to name but a few .

Standardisation and coding are key It is Molloyi ’ s opinion that one of the key principles that will add value to local suppliers is standardisation of equipment and the terminology thereof . This will assist in tenders and save mines money in the procurement process . There are far too many definitions out there and going forward streamlining this will be beneficial .

African Trade – localisation is key Molloyi shared that many of the MEMSA members are doing business cross-border , and some African countries have tighter policies than others to adhere to . Ghana , Democratic Republic of the Congo ( DRC ) and Zambia are of particular interest at the moment . Molloyi stresses that many of the African countries are looking to partner with South African OEMs to assist in building localisation long term , in a partnership that will result in empowering their locals to grow economies .

“ So , it ' s those relationships that we ' re trying to build for our members , especially in the stable countries like Ghana and Zambia , and we are doing that through the assistance of the dtic ,” says Molloyi . The dtic has foreign economic representatives based in all these countries and we engage with them to identify potential business opportunities for our members . Embassies are also , of course , core in these relationships .

He sees , however , much room for improvement and growth when it comes to doing business cross-border in Africa going forward . Molloyi emphasises , “ Making sure that we understand the challenges and the risks , prior to introducing our members to any of those spaces is paramount .” To this end , he is in the process of looking at partnering with a financial institution , which already has relationships with both local and African companies wanting to partner with South African OEMs . This will assist in mitigating risk for members looking to deal with these entities , and according to Molloyi , this will open up the market considerably and fast track cross-border agreements .

Molloyi mentions that when it comes to international trade , some MEMSA members are already exporting to India , Russia , Peru , and Australia – and this despite Covid-19 constraints .

MEMSA and their members are most certainly a force to be reckoned with going forward , and African Mining will be talking to some of these OEMs in the near future to home in on the solutions they can offer to the African mining industry . MEMSA has already taken on four new members since Molloyi has joined , and he plans to grow this substantially in a very short space of time , as MEMSA adds value to the industry as a whole . •

Part of MEMSA ’ s mandate is to grow the mining supply chain for South African companies , but then also to look at the whole issue of research development and innovation , working very closely with the Mandela Mining Precinct and the CSIR .