Little, if anything, seems to be done by the department except to watch how the laws it is supposed to uphold are broken by ANC members holding high political office. This cannot be tolerated.
Whilst a recent report by the Auditor-General indicated that the liability relating to the rehabilitation of abandoned and ownerless mines amounted to approximately R30 billion, the department has seen fit to allocate only R52 million towards the rehabilitation of those mines. Without taking inflation into account, it will take government approximately 60 years at this rate to resolve this immense problem. Clearly, not enough resources are being allocated to this function.
The picketing by a few thousand members of the Ex-Mineworkers' Union outside Parliament today is indicative of the failure by government to resolve the issues satisfactorily. Despite having convened a parliamentary committee in 2008 to resolve the concerns of the union, no effective resolution has been reached. [Interjections.]