Abolition of Lebowa Minerals Trust Bill :briefing

Meeting report

MINERALS AND ENERGY PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
8 March 2000
ABOLITION OF LEBOWA MINERALS TRUST BILL

Documents handed out:
Presentation from the Beneficiary Forum
[e-mail [email protected] for presentation]

SUMMARY
After having received a letter from the Lebowa Mineral Trust (LMT) Beneficiary Forum indicating the forum's concerns with the draft Bill, the Portfolio Committee invited representatives of the Forum to make a presentation.

The Forum indicated that the represented the beneficiaries of the LMT, represent ting some 150 Magoshis and their communities.

Their key concerns and recommendations were as follows:

1. The LMT should not be dissolved without proper consultation with the beneficiaries.
2. Before abolishing the LMT, alternatives should be examined. The Forum believed it would be possible to transform the LMT to fit into the requirements of the new dispensation.
3. The taking over of mineral rights by the government should be applied universally across South Africa, and not only to the LMT. The mining companies should be the first to be affected, not the LMT.
4. The dissolution of the LMT, if it were to happen, should take place through Law of general application, which would be applied to all, not only the LMT.
5. The beneficiaries should be handed the assets of the LMT instead of national government, if the LMT were to be abolished.
6. An audit and examination of the legality of the Joint Venture Agreements between the Lebowa Government and other mining companies should take place.