Corruption over the past years crippled mining sector – Minerals Council

5th February 2019 By: African News Agency

CAPE  TOWN – The damage that was done to South Africa's economy over the past nine years before Cyril Ramaphosa became President has had huge impact on the investability of the mining sector, Minerals Council South Africa CEO Roger Baxter said on Tuesday.

"A year ago we arrived in Cape Town for the 2018 Indaba, there was cautious hope in the business community that the South African political centre was going to change for the better, and this was because Cyril Ramaphosa had just been elected the [African National Congress] ANC President the previous December," he said.

"It was still ten days before Mr Ramaphosa became President . . . and a full 21 days before Gwede Mantashe [was] to be appointed to replace Mr [Mosebenzi] Zwane as the Mineral Resources Minister."

Baxter was speaking at the twenty-fifth annual Investing in African Mining Indaba under way at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC).

He said that since the election of Ramaphosa and Mantashe's appointment as mineral resources minister, the business and mining environment has changed.

"For the mining industry in particular, the minister adopted a very similar approach. We are fully cognisant of the damage that was done to our economy and the execution in our economy over the course of nine years before Mr Ramaphosa's election to presidency. The mismanagement and corruption that took place in that period has had a huge impact on the investability of our mining sector," Baxter said.