South Africa’s parliament gave initial approval on Tuesday to a controversial bill shifting custodianship of mineral rights from private to state hands.
But Mineral and Energy Minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka told legislators she would urge President Thabo Mbeki to get the Constitutional Court’s stamp of approval before signing the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Bill into law.
”We take very seriously… the issue of constitutionality. I will advise the president to consider the importance of ensuring that we test this before it is signed,” she said.
Earlier the minister also said the government would meet representatives of world number one platinum miner Anglo American Platinum to end a row over the producer’s application for six mining licences. Angloplat has told the government that R20-billion in investment is in jeopardy due to delays in granting the licences.
Ministry officials said on Tuesday constitutional vetting would delay the bill’s enactment at least by several weeks.
The ruling African National Congress (ANC) is to add a technical amendment before the bill goes to its final vote in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), equivalent to a senate, on Wednesday.
Mohseen Moosa, chairman of the NCOP’s minerals committee, said the amendment would lift the current five-year deadline for compensation claims for the expropriation of mineral rights.
Mlambo-Ngcuka told reporters after the bill had won an overwhelming majority vote in a National Assembly she was confident the Constitutional Court would pass it.
Olive branch
Earlier on Tuesday, she presented the bill for debate in Parliament with a conciliatory speech calling for talks with the mainly white miners who have criticised its key provisions.
”I am here to extend an olive branch, because the building of this country and particularly turning this industry into a sunrise industry has always been a shared vision,” the minister told legislators.
She said the bill would balance the protection of existing investments with the need to enhance black participation in the economy after centuries of white domination.
Under the proposed law, miners will be able to apply for the confirmation of all rights currently being worked, but rights owned but not yet utilised will be put in state custodianship. It will no longer be possible to reserve resources adjoining existing operations and earmarked for future expansion.
”The purpose of this principle is to ensure that jobs are created and no minerals are hoarded, that small and viable resources are accessible to small miners and junior miners, both local and foreign,” Mlambo-Ngcuka said.
New licences will be granted only if the government approves linked social and environmental plans. Black investors will be given precedence in applications for new mines.
”The bill is a victory for South Africa. It’s a victory for everybody,” said Patrice Motsepe, chairman of black-owned African Rainbow Minerals, after watching the vote.
”This bill brings South Africa in line with legislation throughout the world. It continues to make South Africa an internationally competitive area for investment.”
South Africa’s big mining companies, who established the country’s wealth over the past century, have criticised the bill, saying it undermines their security of tenure and will be an obstacle to foreign investments.
They have warned the government that the new law could put planned investments of nearly R10-billion in doubt. – Reuters