The sustainability of corporate social responsibility spend by the South African mining industry

Abstract

One of the means South Africa has adopted to redress the social ills of the past is corporate social responsibility. This essentially places the onus on the business community within the country to take accountability of the social ills within the country and implement practices within their organizations to address these ills in a structured and sustainable manner. The extent to which and the manner in which this social obligation is discharged within the mining industry which represents one of the larger industries in the country formed the basis of this research.To this extent, secondary economic data was used of listed mining companies over a five year period to understand the extent to which these companies have been contributing towards the cause of socio-economic upliftment. This data was contrasted against general industry data in an attempt to gauge mining company’s commitment against the other industries operating within the country. In order to understand how CSI is interpreted and executed, 6 specialist interviews were held with senior management officials from different mining companies whilst 2 specific mining projects were considered to test the aspect of sustainability.Based on the results, mining companies similar to other companies within South Africa have demonstrated real commitment to CSI through higher annual year on year contributions. The internal processes and resources committed to CSI signal that companies have recognized the importance of CSI as a key element to their own sustainability. The research further reveals that whilst a lot is being done and continues to be done, it clearly is not enough and the country as a collective needs to consider how best to exploit its CSI resources to ensure it reaches the appropriate needs areas and further focuses more on enterprise development.<p/>