Lily-White, but Friends: SA Official, DB Smooth out Differences

It seems that the differences that sparked an outrageous statement by a South African Deputy Minister have been smoothened out, at least publicly, as the sides made an effort to display a business as usual attitude.

The story started late May when South Africa’s Deputy Minister of Minerals, Lulu Xingwana, raised a storm by criticizing Gareth Penny’s appointment to head De Beers, calling its board of directors “lily-white and male dominated” during a budget debate in parliament .

Taking the high road, De Beers at first refused to comment, but a week later Penny told IDEX Online “That was a comment of an individual. It is not the opinion of the South African government.”

However on Tuesday, Xingwana met with a team from De Beers headed by public affairs official Raisaka Masebelanga. The sides “had a very interesting meeting” and that “we are friends again”.

According to Masebelanga, despite points of disagreement, the “body language was right”.

One issue that might have helped was a reassurance that De Beers and the Oppenheimer family shared her passion to promote women in the mining industry.

Whatever was in the past, the issues of the future are still there, namely worker lay-offs and BEE. With five money-losing diamond mines, De Beers might close the mines or reduce staff to lower expenses and improve cost-effectiveness. De Beers also promised to announce its BEE deal by year’s end.