Corporate Social Responsibility in the Extractive Sector: The African Case of TanzaniteOne Mining Company in Mererani Community of Tanzania

Reports from mining communities complaining of not benefiting from the proceeds of mining have been on the rise. This is despite efforts by the government, civil society organizations and other key stakeholders to ensure that communities benefit from mining operations within their localities through direct and indirect contributions towards community development projects. Accordingly, this study sought to investigate the practice of Corporate Social Responsibility in the extractive sector to find out whether communities are benefiting and to ascertain why mining companies engage in corporate social responsibility. Further to this, the study sought to understand the extent to which governments have a role in the effective implementation of corporate social responsibility by companies, especially in the locations from where mining takes place. The study used the case of TanzaniteOne Mining Company in Mererani Community of Tanzania to shed more light on the reports being made. The stakeholder, corporate social responsibility and integrative theories were used to provide a critical analysis of corporate social responsibility, with the integrative theory been the main theory for the study because of its ability to focus and redirect corporates to prioritize the satisfaction of community social demands in an effort to ensure the successful implementation of corporate social responsibility. In acquiring qualitative data for the research, a purposive sample of community members from Mererani Community was utilized. The research also sought data from key informants across civil society and community organizations, government stakeholders, research, academic experts and journalists.

The case study revealed that there is the involvement and implementation of corporate social responsibility by mining companies as stipulated by the Mining Act of Tanzania stipulating mining companies to prepare on an annual basis credible corporate social responsibility plans, jointly agreed by the relevant local government authority in consultation with the Minister responsible for local government authorities and the Minister responsible for finance. However, the Corporate Social Responsibility Act has faced a drawback of poor adherence by the mining companies due to weak enforcement mechanisms resulting from the lack of government institution to monitor and police the implementation of corporate social responsibility. Corporate social responsibility therefore is practiced at the discretion of the mining company, and it works out more as voluntary philanthropy than a regulated practice to gain goodwill and trust from the community by addressing environmental losses incurred by the communities because of mining operations. Transparency, accountability, and sustainability of corporate social responsibility activities in Mererani Community has been affected by the participation of the selected few community members. Noting the fervent effort by the government to reform the Mining Act to address weaknesses inherent in it, it is imperative to scale community participation in corporate social responsibility by bridging the information gap, vouch for institutions that govern, regulate, and monitor its practice and capacitation of the same oversight institutions. By so doing embracing the Integrative Theory that advances inclusive decision making by all stakeholders, including communities when planning for corporate social responsibility projects.