The Mining Industry Association of Southern Africa (MIASA), an association of Chambers of Mines in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), has warned of more job losses in Southern Africa’s mining sector.
The regional mining body, an association which represents chambers of mines from Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe said, “a further 50,000 employees face the risk of losing their jobs if something drastic is not done urgently.”
As a result of depressed global commodity prices that have severely affected the global mining industry, MIASA expressed concerned about the retrenchments in the SADC region which it says resulted in loss of approximately 70, 000 jobs.
In a statement, the regional body said, “MIASA notes with concern, the large scale retrenchments in the region as a consequence of depressed commodity prices on international markets. The mining industry has lost approximately 70,000 jobs across all commodities,” adding, “to make matters worse, a further 50 000 employees face the HYPERLINK “http://www.miningreview.com/sa-mining-industry-leaders-sign-declaration-to-save-jobs-ameliorate-job-losses/” \t “_blank”risk of losing their jobs if something drastic is not done urgently.”
As a response to this crisis MIASA proposes that Southern African governments must have policy consistency and should cooperate with the private sector to prevent further downturn. MIASA says SADC governments can create certainty by avoiding changing policy at short intervals, adding that external investors also need certainty on security of tenure to ensure long term investment in mining industry.
