Chairperson, hon Ministers and Deputy Ministers, hon Members of Parliament and guests, before I read this Bill, which is very important for our people, I would like to make some observations on what has happened in terms of some misprints, so that at least we capture their essence and do not pass on the Bill to the NCOP without having noted these misprints.
They are nothing but printing errors because, as the Minister has just said, the Portfolio Committee on Minerals and Energy together with the Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs and Tourism and the two Ministries have had long-term interactions, during which we agreed on all of these matters. I am sure that there must have been some misprints because of the pressure of this week.
I will read the misprints, but since the Bill is still within the precincts of Parliament, this is no train smash. It will undergo the interactions of the Members of the NCOP and they will make the necessary corrections.
On Page 3, line 33, we have to substitute the definition of "environmental authorisation" with the following definition:
"'Environmental authorisation' means as defined in section 1 of the National Environmental Management Act, Act 107 of 1998. ..."
Secondly, on page 14 line 13 we have to substitute section 38A with the following:
Environmental authorisations
38A (1) The Minister is the responsible authority for implementing environmental provisions in terms of the National Environmental Management Act, 1998 (Act No 107 of 1998) ... as it relates to prospecting, mining, exploration, production or activities incidental thereto on a prospecting, mining, exploration or production area.
1) An environmental authorisation issued by the Minister shall be a condition prior to the issuing of a permit or the granting of a right in terms of this Act.
Furthermore, we have to insert a new clause on page 26 after line 44. It reads as follows:
The principal Act as amended by this Act is amended with effect from a date 18 months after the date on which the provisions relating to prospecting, mining, exploration and production and related activities come into operation in terms of section 14(2) of the National Environmental Management Amendment Act of 2007 in order to revert the powers of the Minister in so far as the issuing of environmental authorisations, the submissions of application for such authorisation and the submission of environmental reports are concerned to the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism.
Those are the misprint corrections that need to be affected. I would like to thank my committee members very much for having worked very hard to get this Bill to where it is today. Indeed, I also thank the Minister for having been able to spearhead this effort of liaising with the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism to align this Act so that it really is governed by all the relevant national legislation of our land.
The Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Amendment Bill, Bill 10D- 2007, at political level, in its current form fundamentally puts into practice one of the resolutions taken at the 52nd Conference of the ANC at Polokwane at the end of last year. The latter reads as follows:
The use of natural resources of which the state is the custodian on behalf of the people, including our minerals, water and marine resources, in a manner that promotes the sustainability and development of local communities and also realises the economic and social needs of the whole nation. In this regard, we must continue to strengthen the implementation of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, MPRDA, which seeks to realise some of these goals. Our programme must also deepen the linkages of the mineral sector to the national economy through beneficiation of these resources and creating supplier and service industries around the minerals sector.
That is how our Polokwane resolution regarding this Bill read.
What are the socioeconomic implications of this political exercise at national level? The implications are grotesque, that is, thousands of mining applications that have hitherto been delayed, especially for historically disadvantaged South Africans and small-scale miners, will now be processed much faster and in accordance with the foundations of uniform environmental regulation of the land as based on the National Environmental Management Act.
The socioeconomic implications of the Bill also mean that for the first time there is the removal of unnecessary bureaucratic red tape and this will result in a positive impact on the advancement of the economic redistribution agenda of our ANC-led government and the promotion of mineral wealth empowerment of previously disadvantaged communities in the mining industry.
In its political entirety this Bill goes to the heart of the Freedom Charter in terms of our people sharing in our country's mineral wealth that lies beneath the ground. Whoever could have imagined that, 53 years later, which is today - June 26 a very special day in the ANC history of the struggle - some of the most important national resolutions taken in Kliptown would be realised during our lifetime? Isn't it amazing? This is thanks to the unique and well-focused leadership direction of our movement, the ANC.
At a technical level the Bill seeks to facilitate the smooth implementation of a new minerals and mining dispensation, as the hon Minister has just said, with sound administrative practices as enshrined in the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act, Act No 3 of 2000. Furthermore, it seeks to address ambiguities that have existed in the principal Act with regard to certain definitions, by introducing certain new definitions such as the Minister has already highlighted.
Whilst the Bill makes provision for the Minister of Minerals and Energy to be the responsible authority for implementing environmental policy and legislative requirements if these relate to prospecting, mining, exploration, production and related activities in accordance with NEMA, it, however, provides that the Minister of Environmental affairs and Tourism be responsible at the end of the day for drafting and promulgating all environmental policy and legislation as enshrined in NEMA and its amendment Bill.
At another level, the Bill further empowers the Minister of Minerals and Energy to levy certain fees in terms of the principal Act, whilst there has been conferred upon the Minister of Finance the powers of determining state royalties in terms of the new Mining and Petroleum Resources Royalty Bill, thereby promoting co-operative governance and separation of powers between the Ministries.
At a politico-economic level, the Bill seeks to promote historically disadvantaged South Africans, including the community in the mining industry, whilst at the same time preventing the possibility of fronting, share manipulation and dilution coupled with the misuse of the black economic empowerment concept, as advocated in the policies of the ANC to empower potential and emerging black entrepreneurs.
Many submissions by participants in the recent public hearings were made to the effect that this Bill says very little, if anything, about the substantial and meaningful expansion of opportunities to historically disadvantaged South Africans including women and that there is gross limitation of consultations with communities and affected parties in the new Bill as against the principal Bill.
However, the Portfolio Committee on Minerals and Energy feels that this is a gross manipulation of factual realities, in that this Bill empowers the Minister of Minerals and Energy to impose conditions as are deemed necessary to promote the rights and interests of the communities in the vicinity of mining activities, including conditions requiring the participation of the said communities. But furthermore, the Bill strengthens the manner of consultations with the landowner, lawful occupier, as well as interested and affected parties and communities through ministerial regulations that effect such consultations. This is referred to in clause 12(d), 18(e), 23(e), 53(d), 57(d) and clause 61(d) of the Bill as amended.
The Bill also does consider the issue of local and foreign capital investments in the country in that it makes available all geological data and mining information of the country's mineral resources at the Council for GeoScience.
In terms of beneficiation, the Bill also encourages beneficiation by empowering the Minister to set out the levels of beneficiation by regulations, whilst it also aligns itself appropriately with the definition and level of beneficiation as required for royalty and in terms of the targets as set out in the Mining Charter. Through this Bill mineworkers are also protected from possible retrenchments resulting from granting of new mining rights, in that the holder of a mining right has to inform the Minister about such possible retrenchments in which case the Minister can immediately institute corrective measures through the instruction of his or her advisory board to mitigate the impact of such retrenchments. What more can we ask of the Minister - the Minister has done enough! Thank you to the two Ministers. [Time expired.] [Applause.]