Corporate social responsibility in South Africa’s mining industry: an assessment

The corporate social responsibility (CSR) agenda has been a part of the global debate on socio-economic development for many decades. Countless claims have been made that CSR can contribute towards more inclusive development and the alleviation of poverty. This briefing examines the concept and role of CSR in the mining industry of South Africa. The mining case study reviewed here demonstrates that key implementation challenges are a lack of co-ordination and alignment with the government’s development plans, at both national and local level, coupled with weak monitoring and evaluation. Too frequently CSR programmes are centred on business-orientated objectives that are not fully integrated with broader, country-level development plans. This briefing highlights how the current CSR agenda and its practice may be unsuited to effectively addressing social problems and delivering socio-economic development plans in South Africa.
Recommendations:

mining companies should think more critically about the relevance of CSR practice to their business. Enhancing ‘socially responsible investment’ should be central to their corporate strategy
mining companies should work closely with nongovernmental organisations and civil society in order to ascertain context specific diagnoses of the social and development challenges facing near-mine communities
there should be stronger engagement with and alignment between CSR practice and development policy frameworks such as the NDP 2030, LED plans and IDPs
there should be consistent review, monitoring and evaluation of CSR programmes to ensure that they remain relevant and meet the objectives of delivering socio-economic development plans. This will place emphasis on the importance of ‘corporate accountability’ and ‘sustainable development’