President Cyril Ramaphosa is urged to keep Gwede Mantashe, a senior figure in the ruling party and the government, in his position as mineral resources minister, the executive leadership of the Minerals Council SA said on Wednesday.
Since his appointment 15 months ago, Mantashe has wrought fundamental changes to the way the department of minerals and energy interacts with the council, which is the mining industry lobby body representing about 90% of SA’s mineral output, said council CEO Roger Baxter.
PODCAST | Sunday Times Politics Weekly – Will corruption reign again?
Subscribe: iono.fm | Spotify | Apple Podcast | Pocket Casts | Player.fm
Ramaphosa is under pressure to not only streamline a bloated cabinet that former president Jacob Zuma put in place, but to weed out incompetent and tainted ministers. His new cabinet is expected to be announced on Monday.
One minister who has the backing of the industry that his ministry oversees is Mantashe, who is the chair of the ANC and the former head of the National Union of Mineworkers.
In recent engagements with Ramaphosa, the council has asked the president to retain Mantashe in his role to ensure continuity in the process of repairing the damage done under his predecessor, Mosebenzi Zwane, who, as a junior politician and a complete unknown, was controversially appointed to the important position in September 2015 by Zuma.
“We have made our feelings known to the president,” the council’s president, Mxolisi Mgojo, said.
“We’d like to see this minister continuing. We’ve articulated the fact that he’s probably the best minister we’ve ever had. He really understands this industry. He’s really passionate about it and we think it would be in the best interest of SA’s mining industry that he continue,” Mgojo said in an interview ahead of the council’s AGM.
However, Steve Phiri, vice-president of the council, sounded a note of caution around expectations that Mantashe would remain as mineral resources minister.
“He’s a very senior politician and in the ANC. I would not be surprised if he was given a position in a department that was more senior than this one,” he said.
Baxter said Mantashe still had more to do.
“Minister Mantashe has unfinished business in mining. As much as we think he’s a great minister, he’s not the easiest of ministers because he knows how to engage on a robust basis. But we think it’s in the country’s interest and the mining industry’s interest if there was continuity at the leadership level at the department, where there is an unfinished reform agenda and it’s critically important to get mining back on the map.
‘Continuity is critical’
“Our prayer would be continuity is critical, and having someone really drive a positive reform agenda to get this industry back on track would be in the national interest,” Baxter said.
The mining industry has lost jobs, with the gold sector alone falling to about 112,000 people from 390,000 in 1994, as mines became deeper, with lower grades, falling productivity and rapidly escalating costs.
In 15 months, Mantashe replaced Zwane’s version of the market-unfriendly Mining Charter that was immediately taken to court by the council, replacing it with a version in September 2018 that the industry said it could live with albeit it with some key flaws that are under negotiation with Mantashe and the department.
“If we can really focus on these charter issues as our first big milestone to achieve, while we look at Eskom and other issues, it could really change the mindset of potential investors when they look at SA from an investment perspective,” Mgojo said.
The council has lodged an application in court to contest a number of clauses in the charter, but Baxter and Mgojo both say they hope the matter can be resolved through negotiations.
They both noted that talks were infrequent during the election campaign because Mantashe was heavily involved in electioneering.
Among the key concerns with the charter is the need to bring empowerment levels up to 30% from 26% when mining licences are renewed, transferred or sold, despite the charter recognising past or historical empowerment deals as part of licence conditions. This would mean the company renewing or acquiring those licences would have to put in place 30% black ownership structures.
Another sticking point is the stipulation in the charter relating to procurement obligations for mining companies: they must source 60% local content within five years. There are no incentives to set up mine-supply businesses, making it difficult for mining companies to meet this target.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.