COMMUNITY RELATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA
Context
- The South Deep mine is located near Westonaria in the West Rand District Municipality of the Gauteng province, approximately 45km from Johannesburg. The West Rand is a historic gold mining district, with South Deep operating alongside mines managed by Sibanye-Stillwater, Harmony Gold and AngloGold Ashanti. Many of these mines have been retrenching thousands of employees in recent years, including an estimated 7,000 employees and contractors at Sibanye-Stillwater's Cooke mine, adjacent to South Deep
- South Deep has identified nine host communities, with a combined population of about 109,000 people, which are directly affected by the operation due to sharing of roads, water and the physical environment. Reflecting the fortunes of the mining sector, growth in the municipality has been a negative 0.5% a year between 2011 and 2016. The official unemployment rate is 32%
- We have identified key labour sending areas, i.e. homes of origin of large numbers of employees, which include the Eastern Cape, Limpopo and North West provinces in South Africa as well as Lesotho and Mozambique
- During 2017 South Deep commissioned a socio-economic baseline study on Westonaria based on various data sources from between 2011 - 2016. The material findings are summarised on the next two pages see here
- The 2016/17 independent mine-community relationship assessment indicates that South Deep's relationships with the majority of its host communities have improved significantly over the last two years see here
- The top development priorities, based on the local and district municipalities' plans as well as identified community needs include education, infrastructure, enterprise development and procurement, community safety, youth employment and skills development
Build relationships and trust
- A three-year stakeholder relations plan was designed in 2016 to build social capital and is currently in implementation
- Gold Fields contracted an independent relationship assessment of its nine host communities during 2016/17 using the ICMM's Understanding Company-Community Relations tool. Community support for Gold Fields has increased from 33% in 2014 to 52% in 2017
- Monthly community meetings and open days were successfully implemented in partnership with a non-governmental organisation, the Federation for a Sustainable Environment, with an attendance of more than 200 people at each event. This partnership has resulted in increased community awareness of environmental rights, the impacts of gold mining on the environment and the mine's environmental and social management plans and performance
- Ongoing engagements with all three-tiers of government were conducted during 2017
- The round table established in 2016, conducted several successful engagements this year, with representatives from the mining companies (Gold Fields and Sibanye-Stillwater), the local and district municipalities and the West Rand community stakeholder forum
| Create and share value |
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| Project 1: Health infrastructure |
Health has been a key investment area for South Deep and its partners due to the challenging local conditions and risks to employees. The SROI study indicates the investment in the Thusanang Clinic, adjacent to our mine, and the Pilani Clinic in the Eastern Cape were impactful. South Deep co-funded the construction of the clinics in partnership with the Department of Health. Spend to date: R1.5m (US$110,000) for Thusanang Clinic and R11.2m (US$830,000) for Pilani Clinic. |
Benefit to the community The Pilani project has supported improved access to primary healthcare services for local communities and reduced travelling time and cost to access these services. This support improved health outcomes for patients, with 400 additional patients being able to access services at this clinic. The Thusanang Clinic had similar positive outcomes for residents and employees, who previously had to travel to other areas some distance away to access services. The Thusanang Clinic handled 9,000 cases between August 2016 and August 2017. The project resulted in 20 temporary labour jobs during construction and three permanent administrative jobs. |
Benefit to Gold Fields Investment in healthcare creates benefit for the mine since it provides access to health services for our employees and their families. |
| Project 2: Education |
Gold Fields and the South Deep trusts continue to invest in education as a key driver to improve the long-term economic conditions in host communities and to improve the mine's local employment pipeline. The mine's focus is on skills development in the areas of mathematics and science, adult basic education and training (ABET), skills development and educational infrastructure. Together with the trusts, the mine also provided bursaries and learnerships. Spend to date: R3.4m (US$250,000) for the Healdtown College. |
Benefit to the community
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Benefit to Gold Fields Investment in education across the lifespan improves the long-term potential for local employment and provides the mine with a pipeline of skills. |
| Manage risk and impact |
| Project 1: Thusanang informal settlement |
Risk: Close proximity of an informal settlement with disgruntled residents and employees increases the risk of opposition to the mine, as well as affect the lives of the residents. Gold Fields works in partnership with the municipality and Thusanang land-owners, to monitor the growth of the informal settlement, since unmanaged influx negatively impacts on the living conditions of all residents. The settlement has grown from 121 dwellings in 1998, to 1087 dwellings in 2017. |
Action:
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| Measure actions and impacts | ||
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| Grievances | ||
Our complaints and grievance mechanism is functional, and visibility and transparency has been increased through widespread communication about the instrument. We logged and resolved nine complaints of an environmental and social nature in 2017. |
Partnerships with South Deep trusts
South Deep Community Trust Key projects during 2017:
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South Deep Education Trust Key projects during 2017:
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Westonaria Community Trust Key projects during 2016 - 2017:
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