The optimisation of the developmental impact of South Africa’s mineral assets for building a democratic developmental state

• Published in: Mineral economics : raw materials report Vol. 26; no. 3; pp. 107 - 126
• Main Author: Jourdan, Paul
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2014
• Subjects: Economics; Economics and Finance; Engineering Economics; Environmental Economics; Industrial Organization; Innovation/Technology Management; Logistics; Marketing; Mineral Resources; Organization; Original Paper; South Africa; Development state; Mineral resources; Resource-based development
• ISSN: 2191-2203; 2191-2211
• DOI: 10.1007/s13563-013-0037-1

Over the past few years, there has been an increasing discomfort with the inability of the South African economy to grow at a pace capable of absorbing the unemployed third of the country’s workforce and reversing the rising levels of inequality. This has led to a vigorous debate around alternative growth strategies and the need for a so-called democratic development state (DDS) to more effectively facilitate growth and development and, concomitantly, employment. This paper argues that South Africa’s significant mineral assets could give it a unique and powerful lever with which to build a DDS that optimises the mineral linkages opportunities and thereby contributes to sustainable growth, development and employment. However, resources also come with all of the pitfalls of the ‘resources curse’ which need to be countered and/or ameliorated with appropriate strategies, policies and interventions. This paper makes several concrete recommendations on the types of interventions that a DDS could make to optimise the developmental impact of South Africa’s mineral assets by realising the seminal mineral linkages and ensuring competitively priced feedstocks.