Abstract
After 25 years of democracy, South Africa is still trying to improve its strategies for ensuring full public participation in decision making in some sectors of the economy. The development of legal frameworks specially designed to manage mining developments and inclusion in decision-making processes has been challenging for South Africa. New strategies by government and business to achieve meaningful public participation in the mining and minerals industry need to be developed to comply with the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act of 2002. The Act provides for the development of social and labour plans (SLPs) that aim to promote the participation of communities living in mining areas by requiring mining companies to declare their intentions and plans to share the benefits that flow from mining. Public Participation is fundamental to promote agreements made during SLP development, which is a legally binding document that must be signed before the mining rights are awarded...
M.A. (Social Impact Assessment)