It has been so very disheartening to hear just how slowly the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) has been processing applications for mining rights, prospecting rights, mining permits, renewals and cessions.
The Mineral Resources and Energy Parliamentary Portfolio Committee was right to call on the top officials of the DMRE to provide more granular detail on what has caused the damaging backlog of 5 326 applications. Among these applications are 235 delayed solicitations for new mines, which could be employing people, earning foreign exchange and paying taxes.
The DMRE’s tumbledown management is sabotaging our economic growth. An immediate end must be brought to this dereliction of duty. As the whole mining world knows, Proudly South African-made cadastre equipment is there for the taking. Ask our African neighbours who are using it. This equipment, or its equivalent, must be installed as quickly as possible and operated by department officials who are able to show that they can do the job.