African Mining May 2020 | Page 24

• COUNTRY IN FOCUS The South African government responded by announcing the creation of a relief fund. This may be a saving grace for some of the SMEs most affected by suspension of services and payments from clients. The fact that the relief support is based on demographic criteria is however concerning. A significant number of SMEs that offer vendor services or contractor or consulting services to the mining sector, were created by individuals who were offered severance packages to vacate their positions to be filled by designated BEE candidates or were retrenched as a result of the two recent economic downturn periods. This talent and skillsets may now be permanently lost to the mining sector or to the international market. Initial indications were that there was no criteria set to determine whether or not the applicants were experiencing financial difficulty prior to the announcement of the lockdown period. The government would also need to make a real effort to get the notoriously ineffectiveness of state department bureaucracy to function more effectively. The mining sector is the most regulated industry, subject to a multitude of occupational health and hygiene regulations and legislation. Most mines already have annual medicals for all their employees, mine clinics and awareness campaigns ranging from TB to HIV and AIDS. The mining industry is possibly the best prepared sector in the country to respond to and handle pandemic situations. The potential of remote work will now be considered more seriously by employers. Various dimensions will most likely be considered, ranging from measuring effectiveness and outputs to addressing challenges. It is conceivable that the IT sector will experience an upswing as a consequence. The push toward greater onsite automation should also gain momentum, as well as realising the potential of remote sensing and Earth observation methods to monitor site activities and conduct change monitoring. The application of these methods will persist well past the travel bans and restrictions, to reduce onsite presence of high cost staff and management, and bring the site visit to the boardroom. A complete discussion of all possible post-Covid-19 scenarios is beyond the scope of this article. In short, there are two main possible scenarios. The first scenario is the best case: government allows the private sector to take the lead in the economic recovery programme, by supporting actions and scrapping or suspending all the current legislation or planned legislation that led to the weakening of the economy prior to the lockdown period. The SMEs are the true heroes of the economy when it comes to innovation and job creation. The second scenario is the worst case: government seizes the opportunity of the sentiment in the country to motivate pushing through ideology-driven policy and legislation such as the National Health Insurance (NHI) and gaining access to the pension funds. It would be catastrophic if the lockdown period is extended or another lockdown period is announced during South Africa’s peak flu season. Only time will tell if the lockdown measures and the reaction following it will put another nail in the coffin of the South African mining sector. This experience has undoubtedly changed the way in which the mining sector will operate and conduct business in future. 22 • African Mining •May 2020 www. africanmining.co.za