Community Development as a stakeholder management strategy by a South African platinum mining company

Abstract

This qualitative study was aimed at understanding the effectiveness of CommunityDevelopment (CD) as a stakeholder management strategy in a selected South African (SA)platinum mining company. Secondary data that is readily available to the public fromcompany and governmental websites was used to code, categorise and attain themes foranalysis using Atlas ti software.The key findings of the study show that Community Development is a good tool forstakeholder management, but that Community Development spending is related to net profitafter tax and is above the legislated minimum of Community Development spending. Thereis however still evidence of increased protests and unrests indicating that not all the needs ofcommunities are addressed by Community Development initiatives. The implication thereofis for platinum mining companies to invest more in knowing which areas CommunityDevelopment spending should be channelled into to obtain good reciprocation fromcommunities, investors, the government, and other stakeholders.Future research surrounding Community Development and platinum mining could befocussed on finding ways in which Community Development spending can contribute toincreasing demand of Platinum Group Metals (PGM). This may be important in ensuring goodperformance of platinum mining companies with regards to the Triple Bottom Line (TBL)which measures performance looking at contributions to Profitability, contribution toPeople’s lives and contribution to the Planet/environment.