Minerals Minister Mosebenzi Zwane would do well to ponder last Friday’s landmark Constitutional Court judgement as he and his department mull public comments on the draft reviewed Mining Charter that he sprung on the South African mining industry in a surprise April gazetting. This is because, in the view of Herbert Smith Freehills’ Africa Practice partner and co-chair Peter Leon, the court’s reasoning has significant implications for Mining Charter III, which inflexibly requires mining companies to apply rigid racial quotas in their employment and promotion practices.
