The Mineral Resources Minister, Mr Gwede Mantashe announced on 17 June 2018 that he put the Mpumalanga, Limpopo and the Northwest Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) Regional Offices under investigation and moved the administrative responsibilities to the DMR’s Head Office in Pretoria until they finished with their inquiry.
The Minister said that during their provincial engagements on the Mining Charter, role-players raised issues on the DMR Regulator’s work. Three main concerns were raised: allegations of double-granting of licenses; claims of improper application of Section 54 of the Mine Health and Safety Act and, the backlogs in the issuing of licenses.
MCCI acknowledges the importance of the mining sector and their role is a significant employer in our area. The DMR’s actions are already affecting our economy, through their decisions linked to the Optimum Mine saga. MCCI is extremely concerned that these practices were allowed to take place at all, and now it seems that there were other suspect dealings. For years, the DMR’s representatives snubbed most of the community-based meetings that the MCCI attended. There are too many meetings to list, but some of the more important meetings were the Upper Olifant’s Water Forum meetings, Air Quality meetings, regardless that it is a high priority or even road safety on the R555.
Not only do their decisions influence our area’s economic survival, but also our environment, and also the how, where and when of the Social an Labour plans of the mines. Their actions have a direct impact on our communities’ quality of life. The senior management’ accountability process is wanting and by moving the problem to the national office, we are concerned that the issues will be shelved.
Mining is not only about the people, as the Minister stated, but also about business, and our environment. We trust the Minister would deal with these problems quickly and effectively. The full article is available on https://www.dmr.gov.za/news-room/post/1723/statement-by-mineral-resources-minister-mr-gwede-mantashe-on-policy-and-regulatory-matters.