Chairperson, hon Minister as well as Deputy Minister and all members of the House. Minerals in the country should be owned by South Africans. We cannot live in a country whereby our precious metals are largely owned by foreign companies. It cannot be that 25 years after the dawn of democracy you find that most of the companies that own mines are foreign.
We need political will from the side of government to transfer the ownership of these mines to South African companies, if not the state.
We must also work on ensuring that the areas where zama-zamas [illegal miners, at disused and active mines in South Africa] work are safe because zama-zamas are ordinary South African citizens who are struggling to make ends meet. Now, it is natural for them to try and find means of making a living for
themselves. Therefore, it is the duty of government to provide safety in those communities, as well as the miners.
The issue of beneficiation and processing of the minerals, also, must be prioritised. We cannot accept that the energy issues are a stumbling block because we find that some of our energy is supplied to neighbouring countries and when investors want to invest in the country energy is not an issue; therefore, we cannot use energy as an issue now when it comes to beneficiation of our minerals. We must have a concrete plan that is drawn up and publicised because the issue of beneficiation will create jobs and ensure that we do business with the world from a position of strength rather than a position of weakness; because we are the owners of these minerals. It cannot be that we take these minerals as raw as they are to the likes of Korea and Japan, and they come back to us and they dictate how much we should buy the cars as well as the phones that they give to us.
All companies must have tangible plans to beneficiate and the mining companies that do not produce these plans must pay more
taxes and levies; we must fine these companies that do not want to put the interest of South Africa first.
We must also make sure that the government makes it part of the licensing conditions for the mining companies to invest in scarce skills. We cannot have a mining industry in the country which is largely dependent on foreign skills. We must invest in exploration, computer modelling, and mineral processing in order to capacitate our young people so that the economy of the country is largely dependent on South Africans.
Also, we must deal harshly with syndicates operating in illegal mining. Let's not target the zama-zamas whereas there are illegal syndicates that are operating in the background.
Lastly, [Time expired.] government must be proactive with mine safety. We must have a culture of people first and profit second. Thank you.