MEDIA STATEMENT: RESIDENTS OF DR KENNETH KAUNDA PROPOSE AMENDMENTS TO CHAPTER 4 AND CLAUSE 31 OF UPRD BILL
The residents of Dr Kenneth Kaunda District in the North West Province proposed amendments to chapter 4 and clause 31 of the Upstream Petroleum Resources Development Bill [B13-2021].
This proposal came up during the public hearings at the City of Matlosana Local Municipality Auditorium where the overwhelming majority of participants supported the Bill, with amendments. About chapter 4, residents focused their oral submissions on the establishment of the Petroleum Development and Environmental Committee (PDEC).
They expressed a view that PDEC should be constituted of women who are currently taking part in mining, youth and people living with disabilities. The residents also proposed that members of the public appointed to PDEC should serve on a two-year fixed-term contract in order to avoid rotation of the same individuals over and again.
About clause 31, the residents proposed that the 10 percent interest participation by black persons in petroleum rights on commercial terms should be increased to a higher percentage. Different percentages were proposed up to 50 ppercent The clause defines “black persons” for the purposes of the 10 pepercent participation to mean a company that is 51 ppercent owned by black persons.
It is for this reason that some residents proposed that the definition should also include involvement of community-based organisations. The UPRD Bill was tabled by the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy and it seeks to separate petroleum provision from the mineral provision, as currently provided for in the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (Act No. 28 of 2002).
The separation is aimed at providing two independent pieces of legislation to address matters pertinent to each industry and to bring about stability and security to investors, especially in the upstream petroleum sector.
The public hearings are conducted in line with Section 59 (1) (a) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, which requires the National Assembly to facilitate public involvement in the legislative and other processes of the National Assembly and its committees.
North West is the 8th province where public hearings on the Bill were ciconducted by the committee. The hearings started on Friday at the Mafikeng Civic Centre in Ngaka Modiri Molema District. Tomorrow, the committee will hold the third and last public hearings in the province at the Ben Marais Hall in Rustenberg.
The Acting Chairperson of the committee, Mr Mikateko Mahlaule, said that at the moment the committee is not in a position to express its position on the Bill until the public hearings process is concluded.
“We are still going to meet alone as a committee to consider all written as well as oral submissions, deliberate and adopt a position in the form of a committee report which will be tabled to the National Assembly,” said Mr Mahlaule.
Source: Parliament of South Africa