Mngxitama and Radebe (2010:292) placed the onus on south african finance institutions to consider the social and environmental impact of their investments in mining activities throughout southern africa,given their strong influence on the mining companies' behaviour . they contended that financial institutions should ensure that the companies they fund adhere to international standard for labour,safety and health,environmental protection,human rights,corruption and transparency. however,they also added that the south african government is expected to create a framework on how south african companies behave beyond its broders, as per the united nations environmental programme (UNEP) objectives (Mngxitama and Redebe,2010:291).