1 BRIEFING BY THE DEPARTMENT ON SAWIMA AND THE INTENDED OBJECTIVES ON ESTABLISHING THE ORGANISATION 23 NOVEMBER 2011

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND SAWIMA as an organisation came about during a time, after the White Paper on Mining and Minerals, when transformation and de-racialisation of the economy was key. Government at the time, was designing programmes addressing needs of women, as part of the vulnerable groups. Mining and Minerals due to its history, was male dominated. Institutionally, gender focal points and later on, Special Projects and Programmes component, within Corporate Services – served as a contact point. 2

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND SAWIMA In line with all government Departments as mandated by the Presidency the Department of Minerals and Energy has developed programmes on vulnerable groups namely; Women, Youth, Children and the Disabled. The support that the Department of Minerals and Energy provided to women, was informed by a realisation then that there was an alarming absence of women’s participation in the mining and energy sectors. A vision was developed to see more women assuming an important role in the mining and energy industry. To this end in 1999 the Department of Minerals and Energy facilitated the establishment of the South African Women in Mining Association (SAWIMA). This was set up as a vehicle to help mobilise women to participate in mining. 3

OBJECTIVES OF SAWIMA Since its establishment, SAWIMA drew up its own Constitution, which highlighted the following objectives: Mobilizing women in mining in the formal and informal organizations and the mining sectors to be active members of the Association and the mining sector; Establishment through research, meetings, seminars and workshops the women miner’s needs, interests and problems, thus identifying and carrying out programmes to redress them; Lobbying for support and recognition of women in mining provincially and nationally; Identifying training and technical needs of women in mining and in collaboration with relevant and interested organizations and also to conduct training to address the needs; Collaborating with relevant and interested organizations to train women who are currently involved in the informal mining sector to pursue appropriate mining methods and participate in minimizing environmental degradation; 4

Objectives of SAWIMA Lobbying for the acceptance of prospecting and mining licenses as collateral security for loans by financial institutions; Interacting and networking with institutions involved in mining and having interests, similar to those of the Association nationally, in order to share experiences and ideas in mining; Establishing data base and resource centre having information on mining locally and internationally, to enable women in mining to access and use the information; Pulling resources where necessary for the benefit of members; Establishing links with local and international technical advisory service organizations in order to access volunteer technical experts; Facilitating where possible the marketing of member’s mining products nationally and internationally; and Carrying out such activities as would enhance the position of women miners in South Africa. 5

MEMBERSHIP, STUCTURE AND FUNDING Membership is open to all women who are interested in mining. Members have to affiliate as individuals or companies. The members had to pay a membership fee for individuals as well as for individual companies. SAWIMA can best explain where it membership stands today STRUCTURE - the Association is constituted of a National Executive Committee and Provincial Representative Committees SAWIMA held its elections, in September 2004 at the Eskom Conference Centre, and others subsequent to that. SAWIMA can also explain their regional structure. The National Office is situated in Johannesburg; they are occupying offices, which were donated by the Chamber of Mines. The Association sources it’s funding from the membership fees. 6

7 SAWIMIH SAWIMA set up an investment company to expedite the participation of women in the economic growth of the mining sector. This was because of challenges associated with a non profit organisation participating in economic activities. The investment wing (SAWIMIH) was launched in It was expected that for members to have shares in SAWIMIH they should first be members of SAWIMA. SAWIMA will own 20% of the shares in the company, with individual SAWIMA members owning 60% share in the company, and the rest by a strategic partner.SAWIMIH participated in a number of mining transactions or deals, such as Incwala, etc.

8 CAPACITY BUILDING The Department of Minerals and Energy provided support for capacity building programmes as part of empowerment of women in the mining sector. The training was facilitated through the Minerals and Energy Education Training Institute (MEETI). The Mining Qualifications Authority (MQA) contributed funds and provided training for the SAWIMA throughout the 9 regions. The DME facilitated a training programme on Jewellery manufacturing and pottery making for 16 women in India during The programme was supported by TATA International. Annually, DME integrated support for SAWIMA in its women’s month activities, including Technology for Women in Business( TWIB).

9 CONCLUSION Similar structures were also established (in the days of DME) to assist women in other sectors such as energy, through WOESA and WINSA. When DMR was established, we changed our approach and broadened this to focus on entrepreneurs. It must be mentioned that there are other women structures or organisations also active in the mining space. The DMR and the Minister remain committed to women empowerment. This is evident in the amended Mining Charter and the approach taken towards targets set in the document.

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