A research article submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Administration Johannesburg, 2018 / This research study focused on identifying the gap between the expectations of mining companies and communities in relation to development and social responsibility. This qualitative research study focused on trying to understand the alignment or misalignment of the different stakeholder’s expectations. This study was relevant; first, given the recent community unrest in the mining communities; and second, because of the Department of Mineral Resources’ (DMR) focus on community development around the mining towns, with particular emphasis on mines being expected to uplift the communities around the mines. Identifying the gap between their respective expectations would be beneficial for both the communities as well as the mining companies. The benefit to the communities would come in the form of relevant development and assistance being given to the communities. Another benefit would be to the mining companies who face community unrest, yet do not understand the communities’ needs. The research methodology was qualitative; data was collected through interviews with Pilanesburg Platinum Mines (PPM) mine management, questionnaires distributed to community leaders, community influencers and ordinary community members, and semi-structured interviews with activists and mine representatives of other mines. This allowed the identification of further stakeholders that were not in the original proposal. The ordinary community members, randomly selected to understand grassroots expectations, implied that the decisions made by community leaders were not necessarily representative of the community’s needs. The study found that some of the expectations from community leaders were different to those of the activists. Community leaders expected mines to focus on building schools, hospitals, and roads, developing skills, and giving business opportunities to community members, while activists were more concerned about environmental issues, land degradation, pollution of water and air, as well as rehabilitation of the land after the mine had used it. Similarly, the study identified that the government, represented by the DMR, expected the mines to develop the communities, as stipulated in the mines’ SLPs. The mine representatives of other mines experienced unrest in their communities similar to that which was happening at PPM. PPM management, on the other hand, felt that community leaders should have a clear understanding of business processes so as to avoid production disruptions caused by community unrest. Management were of the opinion that proper structures in the community should be formed and used to address issues with the mines. It is clear from the study that the communication between the different stakeholders can assist in closing the gap between the communities’ and mines’ expectations. This in turn would prevent community unrest and subsequent road closures, and enable the mines to operate profitably, and offer employment and development opportunities to the community. Recommendations for each stakeholder group are made in this regard. This research article is inclusive of the requirements of The Journal of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM) / MT 2019

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management in Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation. Johannesburg, 2017 / The Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment’s (BBBEE’s) enterprise development practice is one of the tools employed by the South African government in an attempt to redress the country’s past economic injustices that are a result of apartheid’s discriminatory economic segregationist policies. This research undertook to study the perceptual impact of BBBEE’s enterprise development in mining communities, by focusing on black entrepreneurs and the support they receive from mining companies – or lack thereof – according to the BBBEE’s codes of good conduct. The support that mining companies provide to mining community entrepreneurs could have come in the form of, inter alia,business funding, business incubation, granting guarantees for business loans and business coaching. The study took apositivist approach with data collected using aquestionnaire. The research findings indicate that mining community entrepreneurs do not feel that mining companies provide business support, therefore leading to the conclusion that BBBEE’s enterprise development does not fulfil its objective of redressing South Africa’s past economic injustices by supporting black entrepreneurs. The research took a positivist paradigm in that data collection was quantitative. A positivist approach is viewed as a scientific, rational and empirical way of gathering data that is in turn used in knowledge construction (Ryan, 2006). The research design was cross-sectional because the researcher intended to study the perceptual impact of enterprise development on mining communities over a long time without having to make observations over many years. A cross-sectional study is the observation of subjects at one stage of an external intervention process to determine the impact of, for example, intervention by a third party or exposure to a third party. The population involved in this study was made up of black male and female entrepreneurs 18 years old or older, from three mining towns situated in following three provinces: Mpumalanga, Gauteng and the North West province. The research instrument was research questionnaire in the form of a five-point Likert scale. The limitation in this study was the limited population sample of 127 respondents from only three provinces, as they can’t be representative of the entire South African mining communities’ population. / MT2017

Text in English / This is a study of community protest against Barberton Mines (Pty) Ltd. It is a study of conflict and conflict resolutions. Barberton Mines (Pty) Ltd is one of the three gold mining companies in Barberton, and is in dire need of a bankable community/stakeholder relation management strategy, which should at least reduce, if not eliminate, the endless violent community protests against its operations. Methodologically, the study is predicated on a qualitative approach backed by oral interviews and the use of a survey. The study reveals that as much as the community appreciates Barberton Mines for its delivery in socio-economic development initiatives, Barberton Mines’ recruitment and procurement departments are not doing any justice in terms of preferred policy in favour of the locals/Barberton community. This is a key source of conflict. The results also reveal that the Barberton Mines Transformation Trust (BMTT), a vehicle established for socioeconomic development in Barberton, is considered to be ineffective by the community and is one of the causes of the conflict. The resolutions of the conflict include the effective implementation of the mining legislation and unrolling of the Mining Charter. The effectiveness and lack thereof of these conflict resolutions are subjected to analysis in this study. / Development Studies / M.A. (Development Studies)