scholarly journals An estimation of the impact of the 2012 platinum-sector strike on the South African economy

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 302-320
Author(s):  
Johannes C Jordaan
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Budget Deficit ◽  
Current Account Deficit ◽  
Mining Industry ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Gdp Growth ◽  
Impact Model ◽  
The South ◽  
Employment Opportunities ◽  
The Impact

A Leontief-type economic-impact model for 2012 is used to estimate the potential impacts, in percentage terms, of the 2012 platinum-sector strike on the South African economy. Although it is impossible to incorporate and calculate all the potential impacts, such a model can provide an estimation based on sound statistics and methodologies. Understanding the potential, wider economic impacts of strike action can lead to valuable insights for policymakers, businesses and workers. This will hopefully result in improved policies, as well as enriched negotiations to find solutions to deadlocks in wage negotiations before such deadlocks progress to strike action. Data from the Department of Labour (DoL) shows that 103,155 workers participated in the strike in the metal-ores sector during 2012, and company annual reports indicate that this strike action lasted seven weeks on average. Estimates show that the monetary value of ounces lost by the platinum-related mining industry as a result of lost production during the strike periods amounted to R10.6 billion. Two scenarios are estimated that result in a gross domestic product (GDP) loss for 2012 of 0.53 per cent or R16.5 billion (Scenario 1), and of 0.49 per cent or R15.5 billion (Scenario 2). This implies that GDP growth could have been 3 per cent for Scenario 1 and 2.97 per cent for Scenario 2, instead of the actual GDP growth of 2.47 per cent. Exports could have been R9.05 billion higher for Scenario 1 and R8.4 billion higher for Scenario 2. The current-account deficit for 2012 could have been reduced to 4.93 per cent of GDP for Scenario 1 and to 4.9 per cent for Scenario 2, as against the actual deficit of 5.23 per cent. Tax income could have been R3.8 billion higher for Scenario 1 and R3.6 billion higher for Scenario 2. As a result, the government’s budget deficit could have been reduced to 5.13 per cent instead of 5.26 per cent. Expressing employment opportunities lost in terms of annual employment opportunities lost as a result of lost activity shows that this represents almost 25,000 employment opportunities for Scenario 1 and almost 23,300 such opportunities for Scenario 2.

scholarly journals Projectification in the South African mining industry

2021 ◽  
Vol 121 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
W.A. Smith ◽  
M.C. Bekker ◽  
C. Marnewick
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
South African ◽  
Mining Industry ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Project Work ◽  
The South ◽  
Project Management Office ◽  
Mining Projects ◽  
The Impact

SYNOPSIS Projects or project-orientated approaches have become a common form of work in nearly all sectors of economies. This has led to concepts such as 'projectified' and 'project orientated' organizations. By defining projectification of a company, industry, or economy as the share of project work in total work, one can reasonably determine the impact that project management, and by default projectification, has had on that company, industry, or economy in terms of staff optimization and allocation. This paper presents the results for such a projectification study of the South African mining industry. This sector has long been a significant contributor to the country's economy from a gross value added (GVA) and employment point of view. Understanding the impact of projectification and the project management way of work on this industry may potentially add significant value to both the mining and project management knowledge areas. We show that although the mining industry is considered by some to operate in archaic ways, the level of projectification has increased over time, and now represents approximately one third of all work conducted. Keywords: rojectification, mining projects, project management, project management office.

The impact of climate temperature on counts, recovery, and death rates due to SARS-CoV-2 in South Africa. (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neven Chetty ◽  
Bamise Adeleye ◽  
Abiola Olawale Ilori
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Death Rate ◽  
Western Cape ◽  
Warm Climate ◽  
The South ◽  
Recovery Rates ◽  
Death Rates ◽  
Online Resource ◽  
The Impact

BACKGROUND The impact of climate temperature on the counts (number of positive COVID-19 cases reported), recovery, and death rates of COVID-19 cases in South Africa's nine provinces was investigated. The data for confirmed cases of COVID-19 were collected for March 25 and June 30, 2020 (14 weeks) from South Africa's Government COVID-19 online resource, while the daily provincial climate temperatures were collected from the website of the South African Weather Service. Our result indicates that a higher or lower climate temperature does not prevent or delay the spread and death rates but shows significant positive impacts on the recovery rates of COVID-19 patients. Thus, it indicates that the climate temperature is unlikely to impose a strict limit on the spread of COVID-19. There is no correlation between the cases and death rates, an indicator that no particular temperature range is closely associated with a faster or slower death rate of COVID-19 patients. As evidence from our study, a warm climate temperature can only increase the recovery rate of COVID-19 patients, ultimately impacting the death and active case rates and freeing up resources quicker to enable health facilities to deal with those patients' climbing rates who need treatment. OBJECTIVE This study aims to investigate the impact of climate temperature variation on the counts, recovery, and death rates of COVID-19 cases in all South Africa's provinces. The findings were compared with those of countries with comparable climate temperature values. METHODS The data for confirmed cases of COVID-19 were collected for March 25 and June 30 (14 weeks) for South African provinces, including daily counts, death, and recovery rates. The dates were grouped into two, wherein weeks 1-5 represent the periods of total lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19 in South Africa. Weeks 6-14 are periods where the lockdown was eased to various levels 4 and 3. The daily information of COVID-19 count, death, and recovery was obtained from South Africa's Government COVID-19 online resource (https://sacoronavirus.co.za). Daily provincial climate temperatures were collected from the website of the South African Weather Service (https://www.weathersa.co.za). The provinces of South Africa are Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Northern Cape, Limpopo, Northwest, Mpumalanga, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape, and Gauteng. Weekly consideration was given to the daily climate temperature (average minimum and maximum). The recorded values were considered, respectively, to be in the ratio of death-to-count (D/C) and recovery-to-count (R/C). Descriptive statistics were performed for all the data collected for this study. The analyses were performed using the Person’s bivariate correlation to analyze the association between climate temperature, death-to-count, and recovery-to-count ratios of COVID-19. RESULTS The results showed that higher climate temperatures aren't essential to avoid the COVID-19 from being spread. The present results conform to the reports that suggested that COVID-19 is unlike the seasonal flu, which does dissipate as the climate temperature rises [17]. Accordingly, the ratio of counts and death-to-count cannot be concluded to be influenced by variations in the climate temperatures within the study areas. CONCLUSIONS The study investigates the impact of climate temperature on the counts, recovery, and death rates of COVID-19 cases in all South Africa's provinces. The findings were compared with those of countries with comparable climate temperatures as South Africa. Our result indicates that a higher or lower climate temperature does not prevent or delay the spread and death rates but shows significant positive impacts on the recovery rates of COVID-19 patients. Warm climate temperatures seem not to restrict the spread of the COVID-19 as the count rate was substantial at every climate temperatures. Thus, it indicates that the climate temperature is unlikely to impose a strict limit on the spread of COVID-19. There is no correlation between the cases and death rates, an indicator that there is no particular temperature range of the climatic conditions closely associated with a faster or slower death rate of COVID-19 patients. However, other shortcomings in this study's process should not be ignored. Some other factors may have contributed to recovery rates, such as the South African government's timely intervention to announce a national lockout at the early stage of the outbreak, the availability of intensive medical care, and social distancing effects. Nevertheless, this study shows that a warm climate temperature can only help COVID-19 patients recover more quickly, thereby having huge impacts on the death and active case rates.

scholarly journals Exploring the challenges associated with the greening of supply chains in the South African manganese and phosphate mining industry

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
R.I. David Pooe ◽  
Khomotso Mhelembe
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
South African ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Mining Industry ◽  
Monitoring And Control ◽  
The South ◽  
Phosphate Mining ◽  
Phosphate Industry ◽  
Management Recommendations ◽  
And Control

As with most mining activities, the mining of manganese and phosphate has serious consequences for the environment. Despite a largely adequate and progressive framework for environmental governance developed since 1994, few mines have integrated systems into their supply chain processes to minimise environmental risks and ensure the achievement of acceptable standards. Indeed, few mines have been able to implement green supply chain management (GrSCM). The purpose of this article was to explore challenges related to the implementation of GrSCM and to provide insight into how GrSCM can be implemented in the South African manganese and phosphate industry. This article reported findings of a qualitative study involving interviews with 12 participants from the manganese and phosphate industry in South Africa. Purposive sampling techniques were used. Emerging from the study were six themes, all of which were identified as key challenges in the implementation of GrSCM in the manganese and phosphate mining industry. From the findings, these challenges include the operationalisation of environmental issues, lack of collaboration and knowledge sharing, proper application of monitoring and control systems,lack of clear policy and legislative direction, the cost of implementing GrSCM practices, and the need for strong leadership and management of change. On the basis of the literature reviewed and empirical findings, conclusions were drawn and policy and management recommendations were accordingly made.

The impact of the integrated reporting framework on corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures – the case of South African mining companies

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry Ackers ◽  
Susanna Elizabeth Grobbelaar
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
South African ◽  
Mining Industry ◽  
Integrated Reporting ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Stakeholder Orientation ◽  
Mining Companies ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
The Impact

Purpose Despite initially being lauded as a revolutionary approach for companies to account to all stakeholders, the shareholder orientation of the international integrated reporting (<IR>) framework gave rise to questions about whether integrated reports would still sufficiently disclose pertinent corporate social responsibility (CSR) information. This paper aims to investigate the extent to which the <IR> framework has impacted the CSR disclosures contained in integrated reports of South African mining companies. Design/methodology/approach The study deployed a mixed methods research approach, involving thematic content analysis of the CSR disclosures contained in the integrated reports of mining companies with primary listings on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The resultant qualitative data were subsequently analysed using a T-test of difference. Findings The study observes that the release of the <IR> framework appears to have had a limited impact on the CSR disclosures in the integrated reports of most companies included in the study. However, where significant differences were identified, the CSR disclosures of some companies were positively impacted after the release of the <IR> framework, whilst others were negatively impacted. Research limitations/implications As South Africa is acknowledged as a leader in the global <IR> movement, the paper’s observations have global relevance and suggest that the fundamental principles of <IR> should be reconsidered to improve the alignment with stakeholders’ information needs, as originally conceived. Originality/value Despite the shareholder orientation of the <IR> framework, the global mining industry is acknowledged as being at the forefront of implementing CSR interventions to mitigate the adverse impacts of their operations on stakeholders, supporting a stakeholder orientation. As the adoption of <IR> continues to gain traction around the world, this paper’s contribution is that it represents one of the few papers to use the global reporting initiative G4 indicators to specifically examine the impact of <IR> framework on the CSR disclosures on the South African mining industry, where both <IR> and CSR reporting are quasi-mandatory disclosure requirements.

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