Maravi

Van Wyk urges mandatory corporate social responsibility programmes

COMMENTS - The problem with CSR is that it does not add up to the amount of taxes these corporations should be paying. It is a cheap way out of not paying taxes.

About the Bench Marks Foundation:

Bench Marks Foundation is a non-profit, faith-based organisation owned by the churches in South Africa. It is a unique organisation in the area of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and monitors corporate performance against an international measuring instrument, the Principles for Global Corporate Responsibility; Bench Marks for Measuring Business Performance. Also known as the Bench Marks Principles, this document is shared by a number of churches and church agencies across four continents.

Van Wyk urges mandatory corporate social responsibility programmes
By Misheck Wangwe
Mon 22 Oct. 2012, 03:50 CAT

BENCH MARKS Foundation lead researcher David Van Wyk says the efforts of maximising profits from Zambia's mining sector by the government must begin with making corporate social responsibility programmes mandatory and revision of mine taxes.

In an interview, Van Wyk said there must be a degree of economic nationalism within the region as well as within the country for the greater benefit of the people.

"We are not saying that mines should be nationalised. Governments in the region just need to be more strict with the mine operations and they should be more nationalistic about protecting the resources and ensuring that the resources are used to the best benefit of the country," he said.

Van Wyk said copper-producing countries must come together to consolidate the sales of copper and cobalt and create conditions that would ensure that there was development after the sale of the minerals.

"Copper and cobalt can leave a very destructive legacy in terms of the environment, water and air and also in terms of human development. If you don't deal with that effectively in a strict regulatory manner, you will have huge costs after mining.

Zambia is the second mining-dependent country in the world after Botswana. When the minerals are depleted, what is Zambia going to do if it does not cause development now? Zambians must insist that corporations create local industrial hubs for the benefit of the country," Van Wyk said.

He said Zambia must be careful with some corporations that were coming in the country as they were consolidating themselves as buyers of the products and they would try to dictate price and terms of agreements with the government in the coming years.

Van Wyk further said there must be industrialisation around copper and the country should start producing electronic goods as finished products to improve the country's economy by creating employment and improving national wealth.
"It's crazy to take copper all the way across the Indian Ocean to China to produce bulbs, plugs and electric wires and electric fitting and Zambia imports when the copper comes from Zambia itself," Van Wyk said.

He said the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa's call for corporate social responsibility programmes for the extractive industry to be made mandatory deserved some favourable considerations.

The Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa last week said developing countries like Zambia with rich mineral resources deserve solid corporate social responsibility strategies for the people to begin to see tangible benefits from the exploitation of their countries' mineral wealth or natural resources.

It also observed that the experiences recorded in Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe and other SADC countries make corporate social responsibility not something to be viewed as a favour from the mining companies.

Labels: BENCH MARKS FOUNDATION, DAVID VAN WYK

posted by MrK @ 3:42 PM