This matter clearly requires government's urgent attention. [Interjections.] Or could I just say, it was stolen by the Eastern Cape government - ANC government. [Interjections.] Growing frustration is emerging from applicants for mineral rights relating to the transparency of applications submitted. Allegations of queue-jumping by applicants alleged to have abused the process requires the implementation of a tracking system whereby an applicant can monitor the progress of an application. Fears relating to the similarity of applications reflected in the application documents of competing applicants should be addressed. It would ensure that applicants do not waste valuable resources and time submitting an application only to be informed that their application has been preceded by another application, strangely enough.
The management of Aurora Management Services at the Grootvlei mine on the East Rand in Gauteng, with whom family members of both President Zuma and former President Mandela are involved, has led to disastrous consequences. Whilst the Grootvlei mine is still in liquidation, mineworkers have not been paid - in some instances for up to two months and longer - leading to severe financial consequences for the families of those involved. An urgent solution to this matter is required, whilst mindful of the fact that the state should not incur liabilities with regard to the current environmental consequences and the continued pumping of acid mine water from the mine.
Whilst fronting is not acceptable and should not be tolerated for obvious reasons, we have recently come to experience a new form of fronting which entails applying with the assistance of friends at the level of the regional offices and the office of the Council for Geoscience and the subsequent granting of mineral rights to individuals without the required expertise or funding to effectively conduct the appropriate mining activities.
It is also understood that applications for mineral rights have, in certain instances, been redirected by officials in the department to individuals and companies who have acted on inside information from within the department and who were subsequently allocated those mineral rights at the expense of the genuine applicant. It is believed that these individuals then approach companies, private companies and institutions with the request that they - or him or her - be made an offer for the relevant mineral rights granted by the department. This approach is clearly as unacceptable and as legally and morally reprehensible as the incidence of fronting by certain companies and firms.
Whilst those involved would naturally prefer not to step forward and declare their corrupt activities, these kinds of irregularities can only be resolved once an open and transparent system of registering and tracking applications has been implemented by the department.
In response to a parliamentary question to this hon Minister, it was stated that the department was using the National Mining Promotion System and was investigating the possibility of integrating the cadastral maps into the system. That, with respect, is not enough and does not deal with the concerns raised above, leaving the applicant to apply merely in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act, which does not address the above concerns. The question can quite validly be asked: Why not, when the consequences are so detrimental and the process prone to corrupt practices?
In conclusion, it needs to be stated that the Mining Charter and the review thereof need finalisation. Certainty for investors is of the utmost importance in creating a viable and sustainable investment climate. We should not spoil it by allowing uninformed and malicious remarks to be made by young individuals who have their own interests at heart and not that of the mining industry or the intended beneficiaries, which the new dispensation, heralded by the implementation of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, was intended to facilitate. I thank you. [Applause.]