SA Mining: What an Iraqi in Norway can teach us all

29 Jul 2014

It is tragic that a country built on mining and in search of new energy sources has mining legislation that makes these things very difficult to accomplish. This is a great pity, not only because we are losing investment as a result, but because the damage that it causes is self-imposed.

SA Mining: What an Iraqi in Norway can teach us all

Last year was particularly bad. In the same month that the most recent Mineral and Petroleum Resources Amendment Act was passed, a new version of this Act, the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Amendment Bill was tabled in parliament.

The existing Act brought in a legislative regime while the Bill reversed it. Little has improved since then. The Bill was passed by the previous Parliament, having received the overwhelming parliamentary support from the governing party before the recent elections and is set to become law once President Zuma signs it off. Except it won't happen.

Post election, we have a new Mineral Resources Minister, Ngoako Ramatlhodi who has asked the President to hold off signing the Bill on grounds that are not yet clear. The only basis for not signing the Bill, and frankly an embarrassing one, is that the piece of legislation - in its present substantive form or the way that it was processed through parliament - was unconstitutional.

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