ATC210512: Report of the Select Committee on Land Reform, Environment, Mineral & Energy on the Budget Vote and Annual Performance Plan 2021/22 of the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy – Budget Vote No 34, dated 11 May 2021

NCOP Land Reform, Environment, Mineral Resources and Energy

Report of the Select Committee on Land Reform, Environment, Mineral & Energy on the Budget Vote and Annual Performance Plan 2021/22 of the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy – Budget Vote No 34, dated 11 May 2021.  

 

The Select Committee on Land Reform, Environment, Mineral & Energy having considered Budget Vote: 34 and Annual Performance Plan 2021/2022 of the DMRE, reports that the committee met with the department on 6 May 2021, where the department briefed the committee on the matter of its Strategic Plan, APP and Budget.

 

The committee appreciated the inputs from the Minister and respective DG’s related to the current APP, challenges with budget allocation and performing key responsibilities under Covid-19 restrictions and with a reduced budget. The committee, in its deliberations, focused on matters on interest to provinces, which include mining affected communities, the implementation of Social and Labour plans, electrification of rural households and the challenges of climate change and air quality from an Energy and coal use perspective.

 

Issues for consideration pertaining to the department’s Annual Performance Plan

 

• The Department should provide Parliament with an assurance that the 13.73 real per cent decline in the Mining, Minerals and Energy Policy Development Programme 3 funding would not negatively affect the newly-proposed greenhouse gas reduction plans, the development of policy and legislative in frameworks for the minerals and energy sectors, and ensure the security of mineral resources and energy supply through planning.

 

• The committee requests further clarity on how the Department plans to support the mineral and energy sectors to combat the impact of Covid-19 on mining operations and energy production, considering impacts from funding reductions, drop in end user demand for products and continued workplace restrictions.

 

Issues for consideration pertaining to the department’s Budget

 

• The Committee noted the increase in grant allocations for connection of households to the ESKOM grid. While remaining focused on the importance of economic recovery and the importance of access to electricity to achieve this, the committee wishes to know what measure/s the Department had put in place to ensure that the planned 15 000 additional households are electrified, and whether non-grid technology will be offered to households where connection to the grid remains a challenge.

 

• In the 2020/21 financial year, the conditional grants allocation was significantly reduced in both nominal and real terms. Can the Department provide feedback to Parliament on the implications of this on service delivery, as this issue was raised in the previous year, specifically on the delivery of electrification and improved energy efficiency?

 

• Taking into account the impact of COVID-19, have the planned interventions that Parliament raised for the Department to consider during the 2020 budget re-allocation briefing been operationalised, and did these measures countered the COVID-19 impacts?

 

• What percentage of the overall energy shortfall does the potential energy savings target (the Department planned 0.5 TWh savings realised and verified from EEDSM projects and 0.0194 TWh savings by EEDSM grant participating municipalities) contribute for this financial year? What are the barriers to and potential for increasing the energy savings?

 

The Select Committee on Land Reform, Environment, Minerals & Energy having considered Budget Vote: 34 and Annual Performance Plan 2021/2022 of the Department of Minerals Resources and Energy, reports that the Committee has concluded its deliberations thereon.

 

 

Report to be considered