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The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes Cabinet’s endorsement of the decision by the Department of Mineral Resources to place a moratorium on onshore gas exploration licences. The DA appreciates that common sense has prevailed. As the Minister of Mineral Resources has acknowledged before, in reply to a DA parliamentary question, there is no policy on hydraulic fracturing, more commonly known as fracking, in South Africa. Fracking is the technique used in gas exploration to test whether gas will flow.
The DA has since late January 2010 been calling for this moratorium. We have since then articulated numerous concerns about fracking, as well as various legal vagaries contained within the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA). Most notably, fracking is a high-risk procedure making use of toxic chemicals and is by no means foolproof. Neither the Department of Mineral Resources nor the Department of Water have sufficient compliance and enforcement capacity to monitor and hold exploration rights holders to account if there are pollution events. Further, the sheer extent of the application areas has major consequences for the democratically approved integrated development plans of municipalities and for spatial planning.
We welcome the announcement that a strategic environmental assessment will be conducted by a multidisciplinary team. We trust that the legal provisions for applications for gas exploration rights will also receive attention during the review of the MPRDA, which is currently underway. Further, fracking and its water requirements should receive special attention in the National Water Resources Strategy, which is also currently under review. Lastly, the National Planning Commission, which is due to release its spatial planning framework for South Africa later this year, must also pay due consideration to the appropriateness and desirability of fracking in South Africa.
The DA, through parliamentary questions, will enquire about the exact nature of the proposed study, the make-up of the multidisciplinary team and the proposed timelines in which this study is expected to be completed. We propose that, whatever the outcome of the study, it is subject to public consultation.