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Based on case studies of mining in South Africa and Zambia, this article assesses CSR practices with accountability and fairness as key criteria.Main findings and conclusions of the report are:CSR is an increasingly prominent discourse also in southern Africa, particularly among mining companies due to mining’s potentially significant negative social and environmental impacts as well as inherent finiteness of the resource bodyaccountability - the emphasis on identifying and mitigating the impacts of core business practices - and fairness - the emphasis on helping the most vulnerable - are key criteria for any assessment of CSR policies and practicesthere are still important gaps between mining companies’ CSR activities, on the one hand, and accountability and fairness, on the otherin contrast to the business case argument for CSR, critical perspectives argue that CSR is primarily about greenwash, or the projection of a caring image without significant change to socially or environmentally harmful business practicesin South Africa, core business practices framed by the country’s colonial and apartheid history have been relatively resistant to socially motivated change, despite the increasing prominence of CSR policies and reportson the Zambian Copperbelt, CSR activities have played primarily an ameliorative role in the context of significant social disruption and uncertainty in the wake of privatisation.The article concludes that companies’ CSR-related claims, and particularly the reference to a business case for voluntary CSR, need to be treated with caution. However, CSR is not necessarily only greenwash. There are exceptions to the general trends considered above, and furthermore many of the CSR-related activities mentioned do represent important development contributions.
