Minister on Department of Mineral Resources 2012 plan in relation to State of Nation Address
Meeting Summary
The Department of Mineral Resources briefed the Committee on its plans for 2012 with respect to the State of the Nation Address (SONA). Its presentation covered job creation, beneficiation, skills development, competitiveness/infrastructure, health, and procurement/empowerment and employment equity. The New Growth Path had identified the mining industry as a key sector for job creation. The Department used mining and exploration licensing and regulatory activities which covered social and labour plans of mines as instruments for job creation. Between the years 1980 and 2000, employment in the industry had dropped from 800,000 to 400,000 people but had since shown improvement to the current 500,000 people. There was a commitment by all parties to create 140 000 jobs by 2020.
The challenge for
It was important for the mining industry to transform and the Department was working with the Department of Higher Education and Training to improve skills in artisan development, developing black business managers, bursaries, skills and beneficiation strategy and improving women’s participation. TB and HIV/Aids were continuing concerns and a health summit had been held in November 2011 resulting in a program of action which would be implemented. Supply Chain Management (SCM) would be tightened to prevent fronting and corruption. The Department currently employed 0.6% disabled people while its target was 2%.
Members asked if the certification of skills was done according to international best practice. Was there any solution to the problem of TB preventative drugs not being taken for the full course duration? Members said no beneficiation would occur without skills. Were the institutions ready to provide training in these skills? Members commented that as long as the raw materials were taken out of the provinces where it had been mined without beneficiation, unemployment and poverty would not be addressed. Members noted potential investor concerns were the question of nationalisation and BBBEE and that very little of the social and labour plans of mines occurred when mining ended. Questions were asked about the latest news on the "zama zama" mines where twenty people had been killed recently; whether mining and prospecting permits were affordable; could the research and development process not be shortened? Members said there had been no mention of transforming the ownership of mineral resources in the presentation. How was the SCM going to be tightened? Did the Department have the teeth to act against illegal mining? What plans were there to reverse the trend of exporting raw materials? Regarding the Imperial Crown Trading court case and the
The Minister said that in 2010, mining stakeholders held a “bosberaad” which had led to a mining strategy document aimed at growing the mining industry. A lack of rail infrastructure and energy had been identified as critical concerns. This had been part of the Department’s input to government, the result of which was the President's pronouncements on infrastructure and energy in his State of
The Minister said that the Department was working well with the National Union of Mineworkers and with the Solidarity trade union. On the question of skills retention, they were competing with the private sector which offered more money. Enticing youth to take up mining related careers was a challenge. As the country was growing and repositioning itself, the education department had to drive developing appropriately skilled people and provide the country with what was needed.
Meeting report
Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) 2012 plan in relation to State of Nation Address
Dr Thibedi Ramontja, DMR Director General, spoke on job creation, beneficiation, competitiveness / infrastructure, skills development, health, procurement/empowerment and employment equity.
He said the New Growth Path had identified the mining industry as a key sector for job creation. Industry stakeholders had developed a strategy for the meaningful transformation of the sector. The Department used mining and prospecting licensing and regulatory activities which covered social and labour plans of mines as instruments for job creation. Between the years 1980 and 2000, employment in the industry had dropped from 800,000 to 400,000 people but since then had shown improvement to the current 500,000 people.
He said the challenge for
It was important for the mining industry to transform and the Department was working with the Department of Higher Education and Training to improve skills in artisan development, developing black business managers, bursaries, skills and beneficiation strategy and improving women’s participation. TB, HIV and Aids were continuing concerns and a summit had been held in November 2011 resulting in a program of action which would be implemented. Supply Chain Management (SCM) would be tightened to prevent fronting and corruption. The Department currently employed 0.6% disabled people while its target was 2%.
Discussion
Ms E Van Lingen (DA,
Mr B Nguni (ANC,
Mr A Nyambi (ANC,
Mr K Sinclair (COPE,
At this point the Honourable Minister of Minerals Resources, Susan Shabangu, arrived at the meeting.
Mr Sinclair said Special Economic Zones could not be developed unless one linked the mining activity of the
He said potential investors concerns were the question of nationalisation and BBBEE. He pointed out that very little of the social and labour plans of mines occurred when mining ended.
Ms B Abrahams (DA,
Mr D Gamede (KZN, ANC) asked whether the department’s budget addressed the issues that had been raised at the meeting. Were mining and prospecting permits affordable? Could the research and development process not be shortened? He said there had been no mention of transforming the ownership of mineral resources. How was the SCM going to be tightened? Did the Department have the teeth to act against illegal mining? He said most minerals were exported. What plan did it have to reverse the trend?
The Minister replied that in 2010 mining stakeholders held a “bosberaad” which had led to a mining strategy document aimed at growing the mining industry. A lack of rail infrastructure and energy had been identified as critical concerns. This had been part of the Department’s input to government, the result of which was the President's pronouncements on infrastructure and energy in the Stae of Nation Address.
She said scrap metal exports were a challenge as gold was being hidden in the exports. She said job creation was underpinned by skills development. She said the Department alone could not deal with zama zamas. The success in Welkom had been because it had worked with the police and the mine owners. In Grootvlei mine’s case on the
Mr David Msiza, Head of Mine Health and Safety, said that it was working with the DHET to enhance the 5% pass rate. He said that people dropped out to work in banks because it took five to ten years to get certificated. The Department had bursary programs, artisan training programs and training to enhance the skills of black management in place. He said TB, HIV, AIDS and dust exposure were great concerns and it had commitments to convert single sex hostels, dust control measures and improvement in living conditions.
Dr Ramontja said that the issue of water licenses were a challenge. An interdepartmental team was looking at the issue and it would be addressed in the future.
Ms Pat Gamede, Head of Corporate Services, said that it did not have the statistics for 2009 as the Department had only been established in 2010 and that since then there had been no growth in the figure for percentage disabled people employed by the Department. However it did have a recruitment strategy in place.
The Minister added that the nature of the mining industry was different from other departments and was a challenge because it required geologists and metallurgists. She said it was difficult even to attract able bodied people to add value to the Department.
Dr Ramontja said it was trying to recruit to the industry through promoting the industry and through attracting investment to the industry. It had targeted the creation of 10 000 jobs and it was on track to deliver. Regarding skills, he said that beneficiating skills needed to be looked at for the whole value chain not just one aspect of the chain, so exploration skills, mining skills, processing skills and fabrication skills were all needed.
Ms Setepane Mohale, of the Mineral Policy and Promotion division, said the beneficiation strategy approved in June 2011 was not there to force mines to beneficiate its product but rather for new entrants to beneficiate the products. The Department would use the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA) to provide access to raw materials, leverage the skills accord to develop skills and use the CSIR and Mintek to promote research and development.
Dr Ramontja said the department was still continuing to work on aligning issues to address the SONA. The Department still needed to present its strategic plan to the Committee and would provide a more detailed report; this was only for issues with respect to SONA.
He said that in the past, the environmental liability of mines had not been touched upon, but that the new laws did talk to it. Mines had to be sustainable; the environmental impact cost of mining had to be carried by a portion of profits of the mine and there had to be social and labour plans in place.
Regarding the budget, he said that the Department’s programs did speak to the budget and that the Department felt confident that it could deliver the plan with the resources available in partnership with other Departments and entities.
Mr Nthupeni Ragimana, Chief Financial Officer, said all staff involved in SCM had to sign a SCM code of conduct. The Department had strengthened its procurement committees through proper training courses and policy had been aligned to the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act (PPPFA). It had also developed annual procurement plans so as to avoid last minute procurement.
Dr Ramontja said research and development required a very long time before mining took place and the initial capital investment was very risky. The process could not be shortened.
Mr Nguni asked if labour agreed to the mining strategy document at the “bosberaad”.
Mr Sinclair said regarding the ICT court case and the
Ms Van Lingen asked who had the final say on mining licences. She wanted to know the situation regarding “fracking” in the Karoo, about gas in
The Chairperson said he wanted to call a meeting on fracking only after the interdepartmental task team report on fracking had been presented.
The Minister said that the Department was working well with the National Union of Mineworkers and with the Solidarity trade union. On the question of skills retention, she said that the Department was competing with the private sector which offered more money. She said that enticing the youth to take up mining related careers was a challenge. As the country was growing and repositioning itself, the education department had to drive developing appropriately skilled people and provide the country with what was needed.
The Chairperson said that the ICT matter was sub judice at present.
The Minister said that the Department was looking at reviewing the law on the license issuing process.
The meeting was adjourned.
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