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The role of policies and regulations in expanding local procurement in the mining industry in Sub-Saharan Africa

University of British Columbia

The aim of this research is to study the role of policies and regulations in expanding local procurement as a socio-economic development tool in two countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, namely South Africa, which has a strong and well-structured regulatory framework and Namibia, which has a weak one. The concept of local procurement has become very relevant, mostly in resource-rich countries where a strong mining sector represents an important part of the national economy. Whereas governments perceive local procurement as a poverty-reduction tool and as a medium to correct previous inequalities by enabling economic development, private industry sees it from the perspective of securing its social license to operate, thus running smoothly through their life cycle with a reduced likelihood of conflicts with regional stakeholders. During the course of this research, social, economic, and political indicators were analyzed, legal frameworks were compared and contrasted, interviews were carried out, information from the interviews was examined using data analysis software to help find main themes and patterns among the interviews with the participants, and finally a discussion was carried out to address both, the question and the research objectives of this thesis. The research included a historical document review and field work in both countries. In conclusion, this study finds that policies and regulations play a paramount role in expanding local procurement in both countries. Furthermore, for local procurement to support long-term economic growth; public, private and advocacy stakeholders need to continuously engage through reviewing their policies and regulations ensuring their legal framework is inclusive and its goals and objectives are aligned to the goals and objectives of the host country.

Text

2017-01-21

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/59992

Mining Engineering

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/