Members of the presidency, government dignitaries and private sector leaders gathered at the Vision 2030 Summit in Johannesburg this week to talk about the goals of the National Development Plan (NDP) and identify ways to make them a reality.
At the event our executive head, Andile Sangqu, took part in a panel discussion to debate the role that the mining sector can play in realising the NDP.
He reflected that the mining sector’s contribution to development in South Africa has evolved beyond the historic sphere of “hard infrastructure” projects such as roads, schools and hospitals, and that there has been a coupling with “soft infrastructure” projects which include health, education, skills and economic development.
“When the NDP was first introduced by government almost four years ago, we were excited about its prospects. This excitement has not waned and we see the NDP as a roadmap to lead us to a different South Africa, one that successfully addresses the triple challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment.”
Andile said that partnering with local government, NGOs and community leaders has been critical to ensuring that the company contributes meaningfully to its mining communities, through investments in housing, education, sanitation and healthcare.
Three of the NDP’s priorities aimed at eliminating poverty and reducing inequality and unemployment by 2030 include increasing economic growth, investing in public infrastructure upgrades and investing in labour-intensive sectors.
Andile’s view is that it is far too easy to assign the responsibility to tackle these priorities to government alone. “Our experience has shown that the private sector is a crucial partner in realising these priorities. When thinking about how best we can contribute to South Africa, one of the things we are preoccupied with is how to build partnerships that create shared value for all involved.”
Andile shared a few examples of these partnerships, citing the Lambasi agricultural initiative, where Anglo American’s enterprise development initiative Zimele, partnered with the National Treasury’s Jobs Fund, Kellogg and Technoserve. Lambasi is a 900 hectares commercial farming entity which is partly owned by 490 entrepreneurs in the area.
He also explained how the business has adopted an innovative approach to infrastructure development through a partnership with local authorities, the Development Bank of South Africa and the Investment Climate Facility for Africa to boost municipal service delivery in 11 municipalities across five provinces.
Andile assured audience members that Anglo American remains committed to contributing to development and economic growth to accelerate progress in South Africa. “I cannot stress enough the importance of building cross-sector partnerships where citizens, big business, civil society and government cooperate for a common set of aims that benefit us all.”