The Select Committee on Land Reform, Environment, Mineral Resources and Energy successfully concluded its week-long oversight visit to the Northern Cape yesterday. The committee had fruitful engagements with mining companies about the impact of mining on community development. The committee also met with traditional leaders and communal property associations to discuss issues around allocated land and with mining and business forums to discuss various issues affecting them.
The committee first received a briefing from the Mayor of John Taolo Gaetsewe District Municipality, Ms Pulane Mogatle. It was also briefed by mayors of the local municipalities on the contribution various mines in the district make to local municipalities and on the contribution of mining forums.
The mayors told the committee that mines make very little contribution to community development. They take care of the roads that connect them with the industry outside the district and ignore roads within the district. The mayors urged the committee to ask relevant ministers to assist them to call on the mines to build a TVET college in the district to ensure that the skills in the community are developed appropriately.
The mayors also informed the committee about the establishment of a forum of stakeholders under the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, which will work closely with the municipalities. The Chairperson of the committee, Ms Tebogo Modise, urged the mayors to ensure that this forum is strengthened. “Ensure that all the mining and business forums are under one roof,” she added.
The business and mining forums expressed their concerns about mining companies in the district. Among the concerns they highlighted included mining companies’ failure to implement social labour plans and the discovery of new minerals that are monopolised by mining companies.
They called for regular meetings with mining companies in the district and said that small, medium and micro enterprises should be given more opportunities by mining companies in core mining business. The forums also called for mining companies to build a hospital and to put money aside to rehabilitate the land they used for mining.
Accompanied by members of the Northern Cape legislature and the executive mayor of John Taolo Gaetsewe District Municipality, the committee visited South 32 Mamatwan Mine, where it met with mine management. The mine managers shared with the committee a record of results on its social responsibility, highlighting key successes that included contributions to road infrastructure, bursaries and local economic development.
Ms Modise welcomed the briefing and told mine managers that she hoped the mine complies with what is contained in the Mining Charter. She asked the district executive mayor to do a presentation on District Development Model at the mining houses in the district to promote the implementation of the social labour plans.
Source: Parliament of South Africa