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KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY THE MINISTER OF MINERAL RESOURCES MR GWEDE MANTASHE, AT THE LAND HANDOVER CEREMONY BY ANGLO AMERICAN PLATINUM, RUSTENBURG, 15TH MARCH 2019.

Date Published: 15 Mar 2019

Minister of Human Settlements, Ms Nomaindia Mfeketo

Premier of the North West Province, Prof. Job Mokgoro

MECs present

Our host, CEO of Anglo American Platinum, Mr Chris Griffith

Members of the community

 

It is indeed an honour to address this morning’s event. As Government, we have made a commitment to South Africans that we will handle the issue of land reform responsibly, with the necessary regard to all the institutional, legal and policy considerations. Our approach to land reform is guided by our Constitution and the need to promote economic development, agricultural production and food security, among other things.   It is for this reason that the President of the Republic, His Excellency Cyril Ramaphosa, has put together the Presidential Expert Advisory Panel on Land Reform and Agriculture, which will outline the outcomes of its work in due course. 

As the leadership of the mining sector, earlier this year on the sidelines of the Investing in African Mining Indaba, we signed a Mining Leadership Compact with the organised business and organised labour leadership of the sector, which recognises - among other things - that the mining sector’s history is inextricably linked with the racial power dynamics which have driven our political landscape for the past four hundred years.  Since 1994 we have been working to reverse the impact of colonial and apartheid policies, and have consistently been developing and implementing legislation and policy which recognises – inter alia – that the sector must better reflect the demographics of the country.  This sector will continue to have a powerful influence on the future of this country, and, for this reason, it is imperative that stakeholders continues in earnest with efforts to redress the imbalances of the past and commit to transforming the sector, in order to transform the economy and the country.  

We therefore welcome the initiative taken by Anglo American today to support Government’s socioeconomic transformation agenda. This includes the ongoing identification of land, which is not needed for mining or associated infrastructure, to donate to municipalities to assist them with delivering on their service delivery mandates. 

In July 2016, the Rustenburg Local Municipality approached Anglo American Platinum to donate property to the municipality for various purposes including housing and human resettlement projects; and projects to improve the livelihoods of local communities. Special focus was on the numerous informal settlements in the greater Boitekong area. 

Anglo American Platinum resolved to make certain land parcels available to the municipality. Both parties ran feasibility studies on the properties earmarked for donation and found them to be suitable for habitation.

Today we are presiding over some of these monumental handovers. More than 242 hectares, valued at about R17 million will be transferred to the municipality. Furthermore, more than 27 hectares, valued at just over R9 million, will be transferred to the Rustenburg Alchemy Development Trust. The Trust was established by Anglo American Platinum to ensure communities benefit from a shareholding in the Company and receive benefits through dividends from the Company and corporate social investment contributions.  

Anglo American Platinum will provide partial funding for consulting and baseline services. Infrastructure internal services and housing funding will be provided by the Department of Human Settlements, while the Rustenburg Local Municipality will provide bulk services. During the discussions, the Rustenburg Local Municipality undertook to establish two townships on the portions of land donated by Anglo American Platinum, so that an estimated 4,000 houses can be built. The municipality further undertook to ensure that the land in the proposed township allocated for housing purposes, complies with applicable legislation. As part of its responsibilities the municipality has also undertaken to apply for housing subsidies and grants for the Bokamoso community with the North West Province Department of Human Settlement. The North West Department of Human Settlement has in turn undertaken to allocate resources for the expeditious resolution of any legislative impediments to the project, to source other funding grants to the project, for example, allocations from the “Special Presidential Package” programme, and commit subsidies and related grants to the community of Bokamoso.

Our people will be provided with decent housing and the necessary bulk infrastructure, in line with our commitment as Government. In the past 25 years, Government has provided in excess of 4,7 million houses, benefitting over 14 million of our people.

Today’s handover demonstrates the power and tangible results of the public and private sectors working together for the transformation and development of our economy.

I wish to thank the leadership of Anglo American Platinum and government, both nationally and provincially, for ensuring that we get to this point, where we can officially hand over these pieces of land, for the benefit of our people. May we continue to work in this spirit of cooperation and partnership, in other areas where mining companies can extend this gesture  to communities in mining areas.

I thank you.

 

 

 

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