Government, mining and community relations

This chapter seeks to answer questions on the extent to which there is cooperation between the mines and the municipality in terms of planning for service delivery and development in the area. It further seeks to understand the existing factors that favour and those that argue against such cooperative planning and what steps both the mines and the municipality have embarked upon to ensure a working relationship that will be in the best interest of the local community. The chapter considers various literature inputs regarding the role of mining in communities and specifically mines’ corporate social investment programmes and how these ‘dovetail’ with the sustainable development vision/s of the municipalities in question. The chapter also reflects on inputs from empirical evidence gathered through interviews with various role players in the area.