Mineral Petroleum Resources Development Amendment Bill: Committee Report on President’s reservations; Mineral Resources Budgetary Review and Recommendations Report

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Mineral Resources and Energy

19 October 2016
Chairperson: Mr S Luzipho (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

The Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources adopted the report that outlines amendments to the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Amendment Bill [B15B-2013] in accordance with reservations raised by the President.

The Committee disagreed with the President that the power given to the Minister to amend Codes, Standards and Charter did not bypass constitutional mandated legislative procedure. It also agreed with the view that the ratification of the GATT and the TDCA does not create constitutional right or obligations and the amendments to the section 26(2B) and 26(3) will pass constitutional muster. The Committee however agreed that the consultation period in the NCOP and in the Provincial Legislatures was highly compressed and recommends that the Select Committee on Land and Mineral Resources remedy this procedural defect by starting their legislative process anew. The Committee also referred the Bill to the NHTL on 01 March 2016 and they submitted the comments which were considered by the Committee on 17 May 2016.

The Committee also considered and adopted its Budgetary Review and Recommendations Report. Amongst others, the following recommendations were outlined:

-The Department should re-motivate with National Treasury for the budget allocation to the Council for Geoscience to be increased so that the Council can fulfil the mandates given to it by legislation.
-The Department should give a continuous update on the disaster at Lily mine and present to the Committee a short, medium and long term plan in resolving the issue.
- -On the mine closure, there is a need for better legislation and intergovernmental co-operation to deal properly with the closure of mines. The DMR should research sustainable mine closure, that considers both the environment and community issues. Closed gold mines encourage illegal miners. The gaps between companies, mineral, insolvency and environmental laws in effect encourage fraud and asset stripping. This leads to poor custodianship over mineral resources in practice. Closure is part of the life cycle of mines and is presently not regulated in an integrated manner.
-On the ex-mineworkers, DMR needs to co-ordinate inter-governmental action on developing a comprehensive strategy on ex mineworkers. This must include harmonising compensation laws to remove the bias against mineworkers. The one stop service centres are a welcome innovation, but the planned expansion to Kuruman and Burgersfort has not happened and there is a lack of policy on how the one stop shops should be sustainably resourced. Their services will be needed by ex-miners up to 2028 at least. Retirement fund managers and regulators need to act to pay the (reported) R5-billion in unclaimed benefits to the beneficiaries in the mining sector.

Meeting report

Mineral Petroleum Resources Development Amendment Bill: consideration
Mr J Lorimer (DA) noted that the President had sent the bill back to the Committee with only 4 reservations. He wanted to know if the Chairperson and the parliamentary legal adviser had met with the President to discuss the bill and if the President was going to invoke section 79(4b) by sending the bill to the Constitutional court.

The Chairperson replied that he did not want to be accused of taking sides and pointed out that the President did not claim to be right but had only expressed some reservations which he wanted Parliament to look into. He could not say whether the Committee will reject or accept the President's comments.

Proposed Amendments to the Bill
Ms Desiree Swartz, Parliamentary Legal Advisor, took the Committee through the proposed amendments to the MPRDA Bill.

CLAUSE 1
On page 3, in line 38, after “a” to insert "metropolitan municipality or a".
The new amendment will read as “a coherent, social group of persons within a metropolitan municipality or district municipality as defined in the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act, 1998 (Act No. 117 of 1998), with interests or rights in a particular area of land which the members have or exercise communally in terms of an agreement, custom or law;’’

CLAUSE 6
On page 8, in line 24, after "parties" to insert "and communities".
On page 8, in line 31, after "persons" to insert "and communities".
On page 8, in line 34, after "person" to insert "or community".
On page 8, in line 40, after "person" to insert "or community".
The new amendment will read as ‘Consultation with interested and affected parties and communities.
10. (1) Within [14 days] the prescribed period after accepting an application lodged in terms of section 16, 22 or 27, the Regional Manager and the applicant must in the prescribed manner—
(a) make known that an application for a prospecting right, mining right or mining permit has been accepted in respect of the land in question; and
(b) call upon interested and affected persons to submit their comments and objections regarding the application [within 30 days from the date of the notice] to the Regional Manager within the prescribed period.
(2) If a person objects to the granting of a prospecting right, mining right or mining permit, the Regional Manager—
(a) must refer the objection to the Regional Mining Development and Environmental Committee to consider the objections and to advise the Minister thereon[.]; and
(b) may refer the objection and comments to the applicant to consult with the person objecting and submit the result of the consultation within the prescribed period.
(3) Should the consultation contemplated in subsection (2)(b) result in an agreement, such agreement must be reduced to writing and forwarded to the Regional Manager for noting and onward transmission to the Regional Mining Development and Environmental Committee.’’


CLAUSE 11
On page 11, in line 52, to omit "and [any interested and] an affected party" and to substitute "[and any interested and], an affected party and community".
The new amendment will read as “(b) to consult in the prescribed manner with the landowner, lawful occupier and any interested and an affected party and community and include the result of the consultation in the relevant environmental reports; and”

CLAUSE 18
On page 15, in line 36, to omit "may" and to substitute “[may] must”.
The new amendment reads as “(d) by the substitution for subsection (2A) of the following subsection: ‘‘(2A) If the application relates to the land occupied by a community, the Minister must impose such conditions as are necessary to promote the rights and interests of the community, including conditions requiring the participation of the community.’’;

CLAUSE 38
On page 25, from line 38, to omit "or person in control of such land” and to substitute "[or], person in control of such land or community".
The new amendment will read as “(b) by the substitution in subsection (4) for paragraph (a) of the following paragraph: ‘‘(a) No person may for the purposes of an investigation contemplated in subsection (1) enter upon land unless the owner, occupier or person in control of such land or community has been consulted and notified in writing of the intention to enter and to conduct the investigation.’’

With respect to the President’s specific reservations, the Committee disagreed that the power given to the Minister to amend Codes, Standards and Charter did not bypass constitutional mandated legislative procedure. It also agreed with the view that the ratification of the GATT and the TDCA does not create constitutional right or obligations and the amendments to the section 26(2B) and 26(3) will pass constitutional muster. The Committee however agreed that the consultation period in the NCOP and in the Provincial Legislatures was highly compressed and recommends that the Select Committee on Land and Mineral Resources remedy this procedural defect by starting their legislative process anew. The Committee also referred the Bill to the NHTL on 01 March 2016 and they submitted the comments which were considered by the Committee on 17 May 2016.

Discussion
Mr I Pikinini (ANC) moved the motion to accept and adopt the amendments to the bill.

Mr Z Mandela (ANC) seconded the motion for the adoption of the proposed amendments.

Mr Lorimer raised an objection which was noted by the Chairperson.

Committee Report on MPRDA Bill
The Report of the Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources on the President’s reservation on the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Amendment Bill [B15B -2013], dated 19 October 2016 was read by the Chairperson of the Committee, with Mr Mandela moving the motion for the adoption of the report and Ms H Nyambi (ANC) seconding the motion for the adoption of the report.

The Chairperson said the report will be published in the ATC before it is debated and adopted by the National Assembly, after which it will be referred to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) for further processing and concurrence.

Mineral Resources Budgetary Review and Recommendations Report
The Chairperson tabled the document for consideration.

Mr Lorimer proposed that only the recommendation be read since Members had gone through the entire report before the meeting.

This position was supported by Mr Mandela.

The Committee recommended that the Department of Mineral Resources:
-Should re-motivate with National Treasury for the budget allocation to the Council for Geoscience to be increased so that the Council can fulfil the mandates given to it by legislation.
-Report on the achievements of the task team on illegal mining. Illegal mining is not just about gold, it also involves chrome, coal and sand, all of which can have severe environmental consequences and which deserve more attention from DMR inspectors.
-Give a continuous update on the disaster at Lily mine and present to the Committee a short, medium and long term plan in resolving the issue.
-Present the governance framework and guidelines of its entities with special reference to the relationship between the board and executive management.
-Provide a roadmap and timetable to illustrate the plan for achieving the legislative goals contained in the Strategic Plan of the Department by 2019.
-Treasury should come up with a funding framework, that encourages the Department and its entities to perform optimally, in their financial stewardship, continued trimming of the budget for a well-managed state organ, punishes rather than reward prudent financial management.
-Should include the following issues in its 2017/18 Annual Performance Plan, with the necessary budgetary provisions after consultation with National Treasury:
-The development of an annual report for the new Environmental Mineral Resource Inspectorate (EMRI).
-Appropriate performance measures that reflect on the role of the SA Mineral Resource Administrative Database (SAMRAD).
-Finalise and implement the Women in Mining Strategy.
-On the mine closure, there is a need for better legislation and intergovernmental co-operation to deal properly with the closure of mines. The DMR should research sustainable mine closure, that considers both the environment and community issues. Closed gold mines encourage illegal miners. The gaps between companies, mineral, insolvency and environmental laws in effect encourage fraud and asset stripping. This leads to poor custodianship over mineral resources in practice. Closure is part of the life cycle of mines and is presently not regulated in an integrated manner.
-On the ex-mineworkers, DMR needs to co-ordinate inter-governmental action on developing a comprehensive strategy on ex mineworkers. This must include harmonising compensation laws to remove the bias against mineworkers. The one stop service centres are a welcome innovation, but the planned expansion to Kuruman and Burgersfort has not happened and there is a lack of policy on how the one stop shops should be sustainably resourced. Their services will be needed by ex-miners up to 2028 at least. Retirement fund managers and regulators need to act to pay the (reported) R5-billion in unclaimed benefits to the beneficiaries in the mining sector.

Mr Lorimer proposed that the timeline for the recommendations which suggested the Department should develop a comprehensive report on the outcomes of the mining charter including the names of the companies that did not comply with commitments or meet the targets be moved forward.

Mr L Mokoena (EFF) also spoke about the report and asked that timelines be attached to the recommendations in the BRRR report.

Mr Mandela moved the motion for the adoption of the recommendations of the BRRR report. Mr Lorima seconded the motion.
The report was adopted with amendments.

Adoption of Minutes

24 August 2016
The Committee adopted the minutes with minor corrections.

7 September 2016
The Committee adopted the minutes with minor corrections.

11 and 12 October 2016
The Committee adopted the minutes with minor corrections.

Mr M Matala (ANC)  referred the Committee to the resolution of the last meeting where the communication strategy of the entities where raised with regards to the use of billboards to communicate with the various communities. He noted that he wanted the Committee to capture this in the minutes of the meeting.

The meeting was adjourned by the Chairperson.

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