Organised black business, labour and political parties on Monday rallied around the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Bill by declaring in a joint statement their broad support for the new
law.
The SA Communist Party, the Congress of SA Trade Unions, the National Union of Mineworkers, the African Minerals and Energy Forum, the SA Mining Development Association, the Black Business Council, the Black Management Forum and the National African
Federated Chamber of Commerce jointly urged parliamentarians not to heed ”the self-interested calls by big mining companies anxious to protect their vested interests”.
They accused the mostly white-owned companies of opposing the bill in order to retain their stranglehold on the mining industry for reasons of profit.
The bill comes before MPs for approval on Tuesday.
”We are united in the belief that this bill is an historic breakthrough which will end the legacy of apartheid which created the mining sector in this country on the basis of racist exploitation.”
Opponents of the bill say it will undermine property rights and security of tenure and discourage overseas investment.
The joint statement’s signatories were united in their rejection of that contention, pointing out that vesting mining rights in the state actually brought South Africa in line with the rest of the world where this has always been the case. – Sapa