Tough economic environment galvanises SA govt to deliver on regulatory certainty

TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – South Africa’s Deputy Minister of Mineral Resources, Godfrey Oliphant, on Tuesday stressed that the tough economic climate provided the opportunity for the country to deliver on measures to mitigate regulatory uncertainty, improve regulatory efficiency and provide infrastructure.

Oliphant was addressing the seventeenth Annual Africa Mining Breakfast, presented by the Canada–South Africa Chamber of Business on Tuesday, conceding that the delay in ratifying the new Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA) was adding to regulatory uncertainty for miners in the country.

“I can assure you that there is currently no regulatory vacuum in South Africa,” he asserted, adding that South Africa had a “rock solid” regulatory framework for mineral resource development and has had one since the MPRDA was launched in 2002.

He explained that the delay in ratifying the amended Act was mostly owing to industry having requested President Jacob Zuma to not sign the Bill into law, and his referring it back to Parliament for further refinement.

Oliphant also pointed out that the South African government had created a ‘one-stop shop’ to streamline foreign direct investment (FDI).

“We greatly value FDI and that’s why we have created a Ministerial commission to identify the bottlenecks, recognise the inefficiencies and address them,” he said.

Oliphant also drew attention to South Africa’s ongoing R1-trillion infrastructure improvement programme, to build new and expand or upgrade existing ports, railways and pipelines. He noted that while South Africa had been grappling with an electricity supply crisis over the past several years, which had put a damper on industrial activity, the country had not seen a single blackout since August last year.

Further, government planned to continue its support of the Council of Geoscience to continue improving the national cadastre system. He also emphasised South Africa’s hosting of the thirty-fifth International Geological Congress between August 27 and September 4 – which he described as the ‘World Cup of Geoscience’.