With local elections less than a year away the government is desperate to stem further job losses, particularly in the beleaguered mining sector, which is literally on its knees. A toxic mix of plunging commodity prices, years of industrial unrest and power constraints, as well as government policies, have decimated mining, leading to a jobs bloodbath.The government has no control over the global sell-off of resources stocks, a product of the slowing Chinese economy and a strengthening dollar, but there is a great deal it can do to address some of the other drivers of mining's collapse. It could start with its policies and actions, which, though often laudable in their intention, are scaring away investors and contributing to disinvestment.Why wrangle with the mining houses over the minutiae of their compliance with equity and ownership targets when the livelihoods of tens of thousands of people are on the line?Why insist that Eskom's coal suppliers be 51% black-owned when the utility lurches from crisis to crisis, partly as a result of a lack of a reliable supply of dry coal?Why withdraw the mining licence of a 10 million-ton-a-year coal mine because you believe it has not followed legal procedure in its plan to cut 380 jobs?Why suspend the water licences of 10 other mining companies that supply coal to Eskom over issues that should have been addressed years ago?Though a shadow of its former self, mining still contributes 7% to our economy, and is a crucial underpinning of our manufacturing sector, which is also bleeding jobs.If Mineral Resources Minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi is serious about preserving jobs, as he professed yesterday at a meeting with mining companies, he should begin to address the adversarial relationship between the government and mine owners...