Government will continue to work with the private sector in the coming months as it steps up efforts to introduce certainty to the mining sector. This is the commitment of Minister of Mineral Resources, Gwede Mantashe, who started his own career decades ago as a miner before becoming a unionist and ultimately the minister. Having taken over the reins from Mosebenzi Zwane, arguably considered South Africa’s most captured minister thanks to his close ties to the Guptas, Mantashe has been in office
just over a year and has done a lot to bring certainty to a sector that was considered to be spiralling downwards very quickly. “There has been a lot of complaining about policy and regulatory certainty,” said Mantashe who indicated that this had been addressed by finalising the Mining Charter and withdrawing the amended 2013 Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA). “When you come to South Africa now, you know what to expect. There is policy and regulatory certainty,” he said.
”The legislative framework that exists is in line with the expectation of investors. We wanted to reassure investors that it is safe to invest in South Africa and we have done that.” One of the major achievements of the latest Mining Charter has been the acknowledgement of the 26% black economic empowerment ownership that mining companies have achieved. This is a step forward from the June 2018 charter where mining houses were being pushed to increase that to 30% on existing rights. The withdrawal of the MPRDA has also been a move in the right direction with plans now under way to separate the mining and petroleum sectors in the act. According to Mantashe a draft Upstream Petroleum (Oil and Gas) Bill is being developed, providing certainty
to the petroleum industry. “We can therefore say with confidence that South Africa provides a conducive environment for investment, and that we have a stable regulatory framework which provides security of tenure for investors.” Roger Baxter, CEO of the Minerals Council, said major improvements had been made in the past year and that Mantashe had shown significant interest in listening to the voice and reason of industry. “He is engaging with us on a regular basis,” he said. “We don’t always agree and there are aspects of the Mining Charter that we still have problems with. We have not achieved Nirvana as yet, but it is a vastly improved situation to what we had this time last year.”
IMAGE WITH CAPTION: We have not achieved Nirvana as yet, but it is a vastly improved situation to what we had this time last year. – Roger Baxter
