It w as agr eed tha t an o v erly polit e and alw a y s c or dial appr oach with go v ernment on k e y ec onomic r ef orms and the Esk om crisis w as not w orking henc e w e not ed in Oct ober the f ailur e of the MTBPS t o br eak out of the s tructur al gr o wth s tr aight jack et And w e said then as w e c ontinue t o do tha t w e s tand frm on our call f or a set of s tructur al ec onomic gr o wth r ef orms tha t can cr ea t e a virtuous cir cle of impr o ving in v es t or and busines s c onfdenc e impr o ving c ompetitiv enes s and gr o wing pr oductivity incr easing in v es tment r aising ec onomic gr o wth r educing unemplo yment and po v erty gr o wing tr ansf orma tion and r aising living s tandar ds T his mor e as sertiv e appr oach w as also subsequently seen in action a t the BUS A Busines s E c onomic Indaba held in January 20 20 and in engagements with Cabinet Minis t ers Dir ect ors Gener al heads of s ta t e o wnedent erprises SOEs and others T he Miner als C ouncil has had ma t erial engagement with the South A frican R eserv e Bank and v arious s tructur es of go v ernment and think tanks on the critical need f or ur gent s tructur al r ef orm including a cr edible fscal polic y k e y decisions being e xpedit ed on SOEs and ho w t o r eignit e ec onomic gr o wth In se v er al cases the Miner als C ouncil t eam led discus sions in Nedlac on these ma tt ers T he M i n e r a l s C ouncil has had signifcant engagement with r a ting agencies and members of the ec onomics and in v es tment c ommunity W e participa t ed in the Pr esidential Jobs and In v es tment C onf er enc es and in v arious Miner als C ouncilc oor dina t ed r oadsho w meetings with in v es t ors W e ha v e also participa t ed in the PublicPriv a t e Gr o wth Initia tiv e pr oc es s tha t is de v eloping mas t erplans f or each k e y sect or including mining Esk om crisis A signifcant br oad ec onomic c ons tr aint lies with Esk om T he persis t ent load shedding and load curtailment measur es implement ed b y Esk om thr ough much of 20 19 along with the c ontinuing thr ea t of abo v einfa tion tarif incr eases ha v e had a deeply c ons tr aining ef ect not only on miner als pr oduction but also on mining in v es t or c onfdenc e in the futur e And Esk om s R45 3 billion debt bur den is in f act a fscal bur den f or the c ountry as a whole T he Miner als C ouncil has pla y ed a k e y busines s leadership r ole in engaging go v ernment and Esk om leaders on the crisis W e pla y ed a leadership r ole in engaging the Department of Public Ent erprises and the DMRE Minis t ers on the Esk om crisis and pr oposed the es tablishment of the t echnical r e vie w task t eam T he task t eam r eport dr aft ed b y a highpr ofle gr oup has not y et been made public ho w e v er T he Miner als C ouncil pr o vided subs tantial input t o NERS A on the MYPD4 and pla y ed a k e y r ole in enc our aging NERS A t o moder a t e the pric e incr eases gr ant ed t o Esk om Similar ef orts ha v e been made in r espect of Esk om s applica tion f or a further R2 7 3 billion in r e v enue thr ough its R egula t ory Clearing A c c ount applica tion NERS A s fndings in this r egar d w er e s till a w ait ed a t the time of writing T he Esk om CEO or acting CEO or C OO a tt ended thr ee of the Miner als C ouncil s six or dinary Boar d meetings during the y ear t o ensur e ongoing c on v ersa tions on the crisis with a specifc f ocus on solutions One further r a y of light during a y ear of bleak ec onom y and uns table electricity supply w as the appointment of a ne w CEO a t Esk om He has made a gr ea t deal of time f or engagement with major po w er c onsumers W e c ontinue t o hope tha t the Esk om shar eholder will permit and enc our age him t o tak e all the actions r equir ed t o r epair the ins titution E v en so it is clear tha t the damage done t o Esk om along with mos t other k e y SOEs sinc e 2009 will tak e a f e w y ears t o r epair W e cannot e xpect normal servic e t o r esume f or some time t o c ome It is f or this r eason tha t the Miner als C ouncil has lobbied e xtr emely s tr ongly with the backing of other parts of or ganised busines s f or go v ernment t o open up the sc ope f or selfgener a tion of po w er b y mining c ompanies and other lar ge po w er c onsuming busines ses T he Miner als C ouncil is a w ar e of some 23G W of mos tly r ene w able po w er pr ojects a w aiting r egula t ory easing and permits T his in our vie w w ould subs tantially mitiga t e the pr oduction los ses due t o Esk om s curr ent capacity c ons tr aints T he point w e mak e is tha t fxing Esk om is only part of the solution T he intr oduction of ma t erial priv a t e sect or participa tion and c ompetition in South A frica will not only cr ea t e a mor e s table and div ersifed ener gy mix but will ma t erially lift the Esk om ec onomic gr o wth c ons tr aint Also on the SOE fr ont the Miner als C ouncil engaged subs tantiv ely with T r ansnet on the ongoing challenges of r ail and w agon capacity c ons tr aints f or chr ome and manganese the inefcienc y and high c os t of go v ernment run ports et c W e met the entir e T r ansnet e x ecutiv e t eam in No v ember 20 19 and agr eed t o mor e r egular leadership discus sions betw een T r ansnet and the Miner als C ouncil on a quart erly basis as w ell as t o es tablish a task t eam f or chr ome Health and saf ety I turn no w t o a t opic wher e the ne w s is bett er but s till f ar fr om wher e w e need t o be 20 19 w as the saf es t y ear in the 130 y ear r ec or ded his t ory of the South A frican mining indus try with a 3 7 r eduction in f a talities t o 51 people c ompar ed with 81 in 20 18 It is s till 51 people tha t los t their liv es in the sect or in 20 19 and our thoughts and pr a y ers go out t o all their f amilies friends and lo v ed ones P age 31 MINERALS C OUNCIL SOUTH AFRICA INTEGRA TED ANNU AL REVIEW 20 19