about the under es tima tion of the dampening ef ect of c ons tr ained and c os tly electricity supply t o mining and ec onomic gr o wth T he DPE document w as also silent on Esk om s fnancial dis tr es s and as is the case with all the other polic y pr onounc ements during 20 19 w as ambiv alent about the pr actical appr oach t o the jus t tr ansition T he DPE also published the Special Pricing A gr eements SP As Fr ame w ork whose objectiv e is t o as sis t s truggling int ensiv e users thr ough disc ount ed electricity tarifs Bef or e this fr ame w ork the DPE of er ed int ensiv e users shortt erm agr eements of up t o thr ee y ears which w as t oo short a period t o s tabilise the indus try s high electricity input c os ts T he Miner als C ouncil r ec ommended tha t the SP As should be f or a period of betw een 10 and 25 y ears and tha t the ins trument should be vie w ed as an indus trial polic y t ool Skills de v elopment T he Miner als C ouncil c ontinued t o activ ely engage the polic y legisla tion r egula tion and oper a tional en vir onments b y adopting a deliber a t e s tr a t egy of ensuring it is activ ely engaged on a hos t of pla tf orms tha t ar e f ocused on skills de v elopment Among others the Miner als C ouncil is the c on v ener of emplo y ers on the Boar d of the MQA r epr esents busines s on the Human R esour c e De v elopment C ouncil of South A frica HRDC the Na tional Skills A uthority NS A and the Quality C ouncil f or T r ades and Oc cupa tions QCT O T he Miner als C ouncil also participa t es on the Na tional Artisan De v elopment A dvisory Body NAD AB Nedlac engagements r ela t ed t o skills de v elopment T echnical V oca tional K umba Ir on Or e Sishen E duca tion T r aining pla tf orms the BUS A subc ommitt ee on E duca tion and T r aining and other r ele v ant pla tf orms T he Miner als C ouncil s participa tion on these pla tf orms plac es the indus try in a f a v our able position when it c omes t o engaging on an y de v elopments tha t c ould impact members oper a tions T he Miner als C ouncil w as a major c ontribut or t o the de v elopment of the Na tional Artisan De v elopment S tr a t egy and Implementa tion Plan in 20 18 and our engagements on the implementa tion of this s tr a t egy c ontinued thr ough 20 19 One of the major activities tha t w as carried out as part of this s tr a t egy w as a r esear ch t our t o A us tria wher e our participa tion w as both on behalf of the mining indus try as w ell as the br oader busines s sect or T he r esear ch t our w as c onduct ed thr ough the S A EU Dialogue F acility of which the Miner als C ouncil is a part T he f ocus of the r esear ch t our w as t o s tudy the int err ela tionship betw een go v ernment or ganised labour and busines s in the go v ernanc e and implementa tion of the dual educa tion s y s t em f or artisan de v elopment In addition it w as int ended t o culmina t e in ideas on ho w t o set up a go v ernanc e fr ame w ork f or f acilita ting the c ooper a tion betw een go v ernment busines s and or ganised labour in the r ollout of a dual educa tion s y s t em in South A frica A dr aft r egula tion t o achie v e the abo v e has been de v eloped b y the r esear ch gr oup and will be published f or further engagement in 20 20 T he Skills De v elopment discipline is also a major c ontribut or t o the w ork of BUS A in the spher e of social polic y and mor e specifcally in P age 6 7 MINERALS C OUNCIL SOUTH AFRICA INTEGRA TED ANNU AL REVIEW 20 19