African Arguments

Top Menu

  • About Us
  • Write for us
  • Contact us
  • Advertise
  • Newsletter
  • RSS feed
  • Donate
  • Fellowship

Main Menu

  • Home
  • Country
    • Central
      • Cameroon
      • Central African Republic
      • Chad
      • Congo-Brazzaville
      • Congo-Kinshasa
      • Equatorial Guinea
      • Gabon
    • East
      • Burundi
      • Comoros
      • Dijbouti
      • Eritrea
      • Ethiopia
      • Kenya
      • Rwanda
      • Seychelles
      • Somalia
      • Somaliland
      • South Sudan
      • Sudan
      • Tanzania
      • Uganda
      • Red Sea
    • North
      • Algeria
      • Egypt
      • Libya
      • Morocco
      • Tunisia
      • Western Sahara
    • Southern
      • Angola
      • Botswana
      • eSwatini
      • Lesotho
      • Madagascar
      • Malawi
      • Mauritius
      • Mozambique
      • Namibia
      • South Africa
      • Zambia
      • Zimbabwe
    • West
      • Benin
      • Burkina Faso
      • Cape Verde
      • Côte d’Ivoire
      • The Gambia
      • Ghana
      • Guinea
      • Guinea Bissau
      • Liberia
      • Mali
      • Mauritania
      • Niger
      • Nigeria
      • São Tomé and Príncipe
      • Senegal
      • Sierra Leone
      • Togo
  • Politics
    • Elections Map
  • Economy
  • Society
    • Climate crisis
  • Culture
  • Specials
    • From the fellows
    • Radical Activism in Africa
    • On Food Security & COVID19
    • #EndSARS
    • Covid-19
    • Travelling While African
    • From the wit-hole countries…
    • Living in Translation
    • Red Sea
    • Beautiful Game
  • Podcast
    • Into Africa Podcast
    • Africa Science Focus Podcast
    • Think African Podcast
  • Debating Ideas
  • About Us
  • Write for us
  • Contact us
  • Advertise
  • Newsletter
  • RSS feed
  • Donate
  • Fellowship

logo

African Arguments

  • Home
  • Country
    • Central
      • Cameroon
      • Central African Republic
      • Chad
      • Congo-Brazzaville
      • Congo-Kinshasa
      • Equatorial Guinea
      • Gabon
    • East
      • Burundi
      • Comoros
      • Dijbouti
      • Eritrea
      • Ethiopia
      • Kenya
      • Rwanda
      • Seychelles
      • Somalia
      • Somaliland
      • South Sudan
      • Sudan
      • Tanzania
      • Uganda
      • Red Sea
    • North
      • Algeria
      • Egypt
      • Libya
      • Morocco
      • Tunisia
      • Western Sahara
    • Southern
      • Angola
      • Botswana
      • eSwatini
      • Lesotho
      • Madagascar
      • Malawi
      • Mauritius
      • Mozambique
      • Namibia
      • South Africa
      • Zambia
      • Zimbabwe
    • West
      • Benin
      • Burkina Faso
      • Cape Verde
      • Côte d’Ivoire
      • The Gambia
      • Ghana
      • Guinea
      • Guinea Bissau
      • Liberia
      • Mali
      • Mauritania
      • Niger
      • Nigeria
      • São Tomé and Príncipe
      • Senegal
      • Sierra Leone
      • Togo
  • Politics
    • Elections Map
  • Economy
  • Society
    • Climate crisis
  • Culture
  • Specials
    • From the fellows
    • Radical Activism in Africa
    • On Food Security & COVID19
    • #EndSARS
    • Covid-19
    • Travelling While African
    • From the wit-hole countries…
    • Living in Translation
    • Red Sea
    • Beautiful Game
  • Podcast
    • Into Africa Podcast
    • Africa Science Focus Podcast
    • Think African Podcast
  • Debating Ideas
Politics

Unpopular Mining Bill pushes South African mining industry further under the cosh – By Desné Masie

By Uncategorised
September 19, 2013
1800
0
Share:

desne_bwSouth Africa’s mining industry faces increased pressure from a new mining bill that is proving unpopular with the private sector in particular. South African miners have been under the cosh recently with a spate of top management changes and a wave of industrial action in the wake of the fatal shootings at the Lonmin-Marikana mine last year and fending off rumours of nationalisation to the international investment community. Now the proposed Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA) Amendment Bill 2013 is being met with considerable criticism from experts who say it would scare off investment, lessen exports, and further deteriorate an already sluggish economy.

South Africa’s opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, says that the Bill will lead to the loss of thousands of jobs as PoliticsWeb reports here. Engineering News writes here that lawyers from top firm Webber Wentzel warn the MPRDA Bill would “exacerbate the difficulties of the current mineral regulatory regime and damage investor confidence in the South African mining industry still further”.

Werksmans Attorneys in Johannesburg have said that while the Bill has many “salutary aspects” there are, however, “certain dramatic aspects … which potentially could have a major impact on stakeholders in the mining industry”. Werksmans identifies the main issues, particularly the potential conflicts between rights holders and the lack of clarity in the bill about who certain sections and definitions relate to and potential elements of price-setting and control which may be at odds with free-market principles.

Other important issues highlighted by Werksmans are that the concept of the Concentration of Rights could create a position of dominant and potentially anti-competitive outcomes, as well as restrictions on export that are unclear and provisions for fines that seem disproportionate.

South Africans have been invited to comment on the Bill this week, which sets out how mining licenses will be awarded, how the environment will be protected from mining activity and aims to increase social development. The debate is sure to be a lively one as mining reform is one of the country’s most contentious issues in business and labour.

Desné Masie manages the RAS business programme.

Previous Article

Poor Numbers: why is Morten Jerven being ...

Next Article

Westgate attack demonstrates Kenya’s continuing ‘Somalia problem’ ...

Uncategorised

0 comments

  1. Unpopular Mining Bill pushes South African mini... 20 September, 2013 at 01:31

    […] South Africa’s mining industry faces increased pressure from a new mining bill that is proving unpopular with the private sector in particular.  […]

  2. Rich Links: Oil Theft in Nigeria, Mining Law in South Africa, EITI and More - Continent of Riches 20 September, 2013 at 08:57

    […] The South African government opened the public review process for a proposed mining law that would bring considerable reform to the sector. Especially the private sector has lost no time criticising the law, which in their view would dramatically worsen the investment climate. Parts of the law would give the government the ability to declare certain resources as “strategic”, forcing producers to sell them to local businesses at potentially below market prices to allow to develop local industries. The government has shown willingness to revisit some aspects of the law. This is Africa | African Arguments […]

Leave a reply Cancel reply

  • Politics

    Crossing into Libya – Jason Pack survives border bureaucracy and sustainable development consultants

  • Politics

    Senegal Presidential Polls Thus Far: No Condition is Permanent – By Kissy Agyeman-Togobo, Songhai Advisory

  • Politics

    Two rationales for imposing sanctions on South Sudan

Subscribe to our newsletter

Click here to subscribe to our free weekly newsletter and never miss a thing!

  • 81664
    Followers

Find us on Facebook

Interactive Elections Map

Keep up to date with all the African elections.

Popular articles

  • Police at an opposition rally in Uganda in April 2022. Credit: Bobi Wine/Facebook.

    Museveni’s plan to jail rivals for even longer and how it might backfire

  • Soldiers conducting exercises near the border with Mali, where Russian Wagner Group mercenaries are alleged to be engaged in the conflict. Credit: Magharebia.

    Africa and the Soldiers of Misfortune

  • Credit: Matt Haney/Global Press Journal.

    “Machete wielders” are terrorising parts of Uganda. But why?

  • President Cyril Ramaphosa (left) with his predecessor, former President Jacob Zuma in 2017. Credit: GCIS.

    What did we learn from South Africa’s exhaustive state capture commission?

  • Boni & Ente in Runyankole and English, with author Carol Baingana pictured in the bottom right corner.

    Can indigenous African languages help with children’s speech therapy?

Brought to you by


Creative Commons

Creative Commons Licence
Articles on African Arguments are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
  • Cookies
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions
  • en English
    am Amharicar Arabicny Chichewazh-CN Chinese (Simplified)en Englishfr Frenchde Germanha Hausait Italianpt Portuguesest Sesothosn Shonaes Spanishsw Swahilixh Xhosayo Yorubazu Zulu
© Copyright African Arguments 2020
Cleantalk Pixel
By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies.
en English
am Amharicar Arabicny Chichewazh-CN Chinese (Simplified)en Englishfr Frenchde Germanha Hausait Italianpt Portuguesest Sesothosn Shonaes Spanishsw Swahilixh Xhosayo Yorubazu Zulu
African Arguments wants to hear from you!

Take 5 minutes to fill in this short reader survey and you could win three African Arguments books of your choice…as well as our eternal gratitude.