Many governments also consciously relax the enforcement of regulations in a bid to strengthen their attractive positions for investors. Chambers of Mines, the private sector lobbies, have grown in immense influence whilst public lobbies or regulatory agencies are weak or non-existent. Abuse of impact assessments Social impacts are the most abused. More often than not, communities are not involved during the baseline studies, nor do they have the capacity to conduct such studies independently. Consequently, the companies end up prescribing compensation and relocation schemes which usually do not take sufficient account of socio-cultural circumstances.
Many communities lack the capacity to negotiate.
Communities may not be well organised around a leader or a civic movement and are therefore often unable to collectively negotiate. They are even weaker negotiating as individual families. Some companies exploit this weakness by insisting on negotiating with individuals who often end up getting a raw deal. This is usually a route to future conflicts. These tensions and conflicts are beginning to litter the African mining landscape.