Select Committee passes Mineral Petroleum Resources Development Bill

The Select Committee on Economic Development adopted the Mineral Petroleum Resources Development Amendment Bill today after MPs read out their province's final mandates. This marks the 11th bill passed in the past two days as Parliament closes tomorrow as the election approaches.

Yesterday, at the Committee meeting, MPs presented their negotiating mandates, which showed seven provinces in support of the Bill – the Eastern Cape, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, North West, the Free State and Gauteng. The Western Cape voted against the Bill, while KwaZulu-Natal did not submit a mandate.

Although negotiating mandates indicated that there was support for the Bill, there were a few concerns voiced by the provinces.

The Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga and the North West provinces supported the Bill, but were concerned that the revised section 23(2A) removed the possibility for communities to participate in mining. The provinces were also concerned that the legislation seemed to undermine the Department of Water Affairs authority in respect of water licences.

Gauteng commented that very short time frames had been given to provinces to process the Bill. However, the Office of the Chief State Law Adviser (OCSLA) countered that a “full and adequate process” for consultation was given, and although the proposals on section 23(2A) did not include community participation, it was adequately covered in other sections of the Bill, in the conditions for regulation, and the general context of this whole section.

Today, the Select Committee passed the Bill with six provinces voting in favour of the Bill, and the Western Cape voting against it.

The House convenes tomorrow to vote on the Bill.