Global Compact International Yearbook Ausgabe 2013

Agenda
CSR in Africa
By Prof. Bonnie Campbell
The issue of corporate social responsibility (CSR), as it relates
to the mining sector, has emerged in a particular historical
context. Several decades of reform that liberalized regulatory
frameworks and mining codes in mineral-rich countries of
Africa in order to encourage investment has contributed to
redefining the role and functions of mineral-rich states, as well
as contributed to the shift of what were formerly considered
state functions to private actors – often large transnational
mining companies. In the context of the weakened institutional
and political capacities of states – and consequently of their
weakened capacity to pursue developmental objectives, to
enforce regulations in areas of key importance to communities,
and to meet national economic objectives, along with the
trend of transferring public responsibilities to private actors –
issues of legitimacy have emerged about the operations of
mining companies themselves. Such a redefinition of spheres
of authority and responsibility in situations of declining public
resources – compounded by the fact that mineral-rich states
have become less able to ensure the needed monitoring, followup,
and, if necessary, bring in remedial measures –has called
into question the regulatory role of states, hence creating a
legitimacy gap, which inevitably impacts on the activities of
mining enterprises.
While past and current trends may have allowed governments
to shift the locus of responsibility for what were previously
considered state functions – including public service delivery
(clinics, roads, infrastructure, security, etc.) as well as rulesetting
and implementation and mediation – to the private
operators of large-scale mining projects and NGOs (which
helps explain the pressures on companies to introduce CSR
projects in order to gain a social license to operate), such
transfers are problematic for several reasons. With regard
to the origins of CSR projects, they are most often the result
of externally-driven initiatives rather than ideas emanating
from a domestic policy process and as integral parts of locallyowned
public policies. Moreover, not only do they silence the
legitimate, and indeed necessary, right of governments to offer
services to their populations – a precondition to their being
held publicly accountable – they also contribute to obscuring
the issue of government responsibility itself. The current
sidestepping of the state – by suggesting companies can
gain better legitimacy for their operations by offering social
services – runs the risk of undermining a precondition for
building responsible governments and the basis of democratic
practice: the need to hold governments publicly accountable.
The blurring of lines of responsibility of public, as opposed
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