Hon Chairperson, hon Minister and Deputy Ministers present here, leadership of organised labour, leadership of organised business, officials of the Department of Mineral Resources led by the director- general, Advocate Nogxina, comrades and fellow South Africans, in case I run out of time to say so, let me, from the outset, state that the ANC supports this Budget Vote. [Applause.] We base our support on the all-embracing theme that "Working together we can do more". This theme reverberates throughout government departments, reflecting a clear response to the state of the nation address by the President, the hon J G Zuma. This is a theme which is even more relevant to all stakeholders in mining, particularly in our present-day circumstances.
Once more, I would like to dedicate this speech to the thousands of mineworkers who have perished in this industry over many years of mining in this country. This Parliament extends heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones of the deceased.
It is important for us, when we speak about this industry, to trace some historical background. South Africa's mineral industry, largely supported by gold, diamonds, coal and platinum group metal production, has made an important contribution to our economy. It has provided the impetus for the development of an extensive and efficient physical infrastructure and has contributed greatly to the establishment of the country's secondary industries. Mining remains South Africa's largest industry in the primary economic sector, followed only by agriculture.
Mining continues to be South Africa's principal earner of sought-after foreign exchange, as the hon Minister has demonstrated clearly in this House, although levels of earning are declining. During the 1990s mining directly generated 41% of total exports, approximately the same as the fast- growing manufactured goods export sector. From the year 2007 real fixed investment in the mining sector improved by about 14,8%. Unfortunately, this improvement was insufficient to compensate for the declines that had taken place in 2004 and 2005, with the result that production fell by 1,5% in 2006.
We further recognise the fact that, notwithstanding the sometimes jittery mood of the investor community owing to some perceptions, the mining sector continues to act as a magnet for investment in South Africa. You have to listen, my friend. The portfolio committee has just resolved to play its expected role to address both the genuine concerns and the perceptions of the investor community.
The mining industry continues to make tangible contributions to the gross domestic product of the country, as the Minister demonstrated. Mining remains amongst the leading sectors in job creation, with employment levels currently estimated at more than 330 000.
In this regard, hon Chairperson and Minister, we acknowledge and applaud the role played by the Mining Industry Growth, Development and Employment Task Team, Migdett, the multistakeholder team that was established in December 2008 as a direct response to and attempt to mitigate the negative impact that would result from the global financial crisis - which, I must add, was not of our own making.
Indeed, these efforts have been successful in reducing the potentially high numbers of job losses in the mining sector. These numbers were estimated to be around 100 000. Instead, only approximately 35 000 jobs were shed by the industry. This figure, however, is still high when considering the number of dependants of these mineworkers. This intervention demonstrates the correctness of our theme of "Working together we can do more", because Migdett is a multistakeholder body. Everybody made a serious contribution to put us in that kind of situation.
The historical and current factors discussed above have been made possible by the fact that South Africa is endowed with rich mineral resources. This country is home to vital and the most diversified mineral reserves in the world. This includes, but is not limited to, the platinum group metals at a world level of about 70%, gold at 40%, manganese at 70%, chromium at 70%, and many other mineral commodities that include diamonds, titanium, bituminous coal, anthracite seams, copper, phosphate and iron. The list continues.
This extensive mineral wealth is a common heritage for all South Africans. Section 24(b)(iii) of the Constitution of South Africa guarantees everyone the right to "secure ecologically sustainable development and use of natural resources while promoting justifiable economic and social development". Through this section and other relevant provisions in our Constitution, we as public representatives, all of us in this House, are enjoined to ensure that benefits that accrue from the development of our minerals are enjoyed by all South Africans. Therefore, the question is: Do we all benefit equitably from this mineral wealth? This is a very clear question. [Interjections.] Wait! You will answer me later.
In order to answer this question in a frank and objective manner, without being partisan, our sober minds are called upon here to be applied to this situation. To answer this question in a more frank and objective manner, we need to examine a few socioeconomic developments that have a direct bearing on the current political conjuncture in our country.
Sixteen years into our democracy South Africa continues to be faced with the serious challenges of rising levels of poverty. Political and economic analysts agree with us. They estimate that approximately 40% - I repeat, 40% - of South Africans are living in poverty. They also estimate that approximately 15% of our population is living in abject poverty. More than the majority of these poor people within our society continue to be black South Africans.
We have high levels of unemployment. In its latest report, Statistics SA reflected that in the period from October to December 2009, the official rate of unemployment was 24,3%, and indeed if we use the expanded definition of unemployment, this rate would be much higher than the 24,3% referred to.
South Africa was recently declared the world leader in the arena of the most unequal societies, and the gap of inequality continues to rise. [Interjections.] The huge backlogs in the delivery of housing, water and sanitation infrastructure, schools and other institutions of learning, health care facilities and other public amenities, reflect a situation in which this country is faced with serious challenges.
Therefore, given the picture depicted above, anybody in this august House who can give an affirmative answer - as you have just done, hon member - to the question posed in this submission, would be pretending to be living in another country somewhere or, worse, would be pretending not to be living on planet earth. Maybe you're living on Mars somewhere, observing planet earth at a distance.
Therefore our patriotism, our love and our commitment to our beloved country and the future of generations to come is being invoked at this juncture. So, we are saying that you must put aside your ideological affiliations and political beliefs and look at the objective situation as it obtains on the ground.
As a caring organisation, therefore, the ANC, in response to this challenge, took a progressive resolution at its watershed Polokwane congress in December 2007 in that we must, among other things, establish a state-owned mining company, something the hon Minister has referred to. [Interjections.]