Date: 15/08/2006
Source: Northern Cape Provincial Government
Title: Peters: Dea and Namakwaland Minerals Resources Workshop
Speech by Northern Cape Premier Mme Dipuo Peters at the Dea and Namakwaland Mineral Resources Workshop, Namakwaland
Programme Director
MEC Pakes Dikgetsi
Honourable Mayors and councillors
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Sustainable and higher economic growth rates in the Northern Cape province hinge on broadening economic activity across sectors already identified in the Provincial Growth and Development Strategy (PGDS), such as manufacturing, procurement within the province, tourism and Small and Medium Micro Enterprise (SMME) development as well as spreading activities on a spatial front.
Our provincial economy poses a serious challenge of stabilising economic growth as a pivot to achieving the six percent target by 2014. The most critical challenge is to develop strategic interventions that will halt the flow of leakages out of the provincial economy.
This workshop is also part of a fulfilment of a promise made by the President of our country Mr Thabo Mbeki in the last Presidential imbizo held in this region.
This promise was made against the backdrop of a plethora of issues raised in the Presidential imbizo held this year. In the main, a large portion of the questions raised by the community related to issues that were largely mining in nature.
The Minister of Minerals and Energy, Mme Buyelwa Sonjica made a commitment that the Department of Minerals and Energy would hold a Mining imbizo to unpack the issues related to mining and seek common solutions to the hiccups experienced by our people who are already in mining and those who wish to make inroads into this sector. I am pleased to announce that Minister Sonjica will be officiating at the mining and investment indaba to be held at the end of this month in Kimberley.
We as a province recognise the significant role that mining has played in our economic sphere and recognise that mining has a life span and therefore it is important that we look at other downstream mining activities that can contribute towards creating a better life for all our people.
We have a joint responsibility of ensuring that residents of this region benefit from the mineral wealth that is present in this district and that the exploitation of these minerals positively impact on the lives of our people.
It is also important that those unexploited deposits in some areas of our province are correctly managed not to create dependency and see our communities as providers of cheap labour only but owners of the means of their own produce.
It is therefore an economic imperative that we need to pursue in as far as continued mining activities are concerned within our country and our province in particular rather than just a noble political ambition. Beneficiation in both Mining and Agricultural sectors is another area that remains critical to ensuring that our people share in the accelerated growth.
Many of us are aware of the fact that although the Northern Cape and Kimberley in particular led the industrial revolution and remains the capital for diamonds in South Africa but there is very little for the city to show off. In fact today the economy of the Province faces tremendous challenges as a result of closure of mines.
The more concerning aspect is the fact that diamonds produced in South Africa have only served to benefit and enrich the rich Western countries. The challenge for us is to ensure that the raw material we mine and export in an unrefined manner or with little if any value addition is significantly made available for the downstream economy.
Our long term view as the Provincial Government is that mining activities should be complimentary to other economic activities. The adoption of the new mining legislation in our view presents us with an array of options with regard to mining as an economic activity that not only ends with the actual raw production of the commodities.
We are taking an extended view of these resources as a province and we see downstream mining activities contributing significantly to our economy. Particular emphasis can be placed on the completion of commodity value chain and minerals beneficiation.
In the State of the Province Address, we mentioned the undertaking of feasibility studies with regard to the mining of other minerals such as granite, travertine, sandstone and slate.
We are pleased to announce that baseline research has already commenced on these minerals and their economic viability in as far as their mining, quarrying and processing into high end products is concerned.
This, we hope, will provide a different approach to how we view mining. Not as an activity that should only be seen as dominated by a single mineral which is diamonds.
We would, in the context of our Provincial Growth and Development Strategy, anticipate that these initiatives will be able to diversify our economic activities in as far as mining is concerned.
This particular research is aimed primarily at determining the availability of these minerals in order to allow us to packaging investment opportunities appropriately. We have found deposits of granite around Concordia, Garies, Poffader and Nababeep areas.
There is an operation currently underway at Garies which primarily concentrates on the manufacturing of tombstones and to a lesser extent usage for decorative purposes.
We need to ensure that these initiatives are not left to die a natural death but are supported in order to encourage other downstream mining activities.
Our province contains a variety of deposits that lend themselves to small scale mining activities the development of which is usually hindered by lack of technical expertise and financial resources.
It is our collective responsibility to ensure that these limited resources are managed and regulated in a manner that will support small scale mining activities.
It is our intention as Provincial Government to ensure that we establish Small Mining and Minerals Development Centres in both Kimberley and Springbok.
These centres would primarily be responsible for providing support to small scale miners and act as a conduit between the Department of Economic Affairs and the Department of Minerals and Energy in the province.
It is also important that small scale miners engage established corporations with a view to forming innovative joint ventures which are mutually beneficial to all parties.
We need to realise that in some instances we own land that have rich mineral resources but do not have the necessary capital layout. It would therefore be in our own interest to engage financial services providers for capital and established businesses for technological and technical expertise.
These relationships can be used to benefit all involved without necessarily compromising each others interests. I am particularly pleased that this workshop is held during women’s month, as we need to collectively support women who wish to make inroads into mining.
We are inundated with grievances from women led companies in many parts of the province, who are experiencing extreme difficulties in getting involved in the mining business and continue to articulate their frustrations in relations to their inability to get funding.
Ladies and gentlemen, the 50th anniversary of the women’s March celebrations is held against the theme of Age of Hope. This therefore means that the 50 years represents hope for all women, hope informed by our experience that today is better than yesterday, and tomorrow will indeed be better than today.
Clearly then, it is important that we do not just talk about women empowerment because it seems fashionable to say so, we must continuously measure the progress we are making in this regard so that we can determine what we should do next to improve on our performance.
Women should use workshops such as these to expedite the process of empowering themselves and assess whether government is doing what should be done to advance the objective of the emancipation of women.
The empowerment of women does not mean having a few women in top positions or having a few shares for compliance purposes or fronting for men. The empowerment must mean that ordinary women in rural or urban areas have an equal opportunity and that they should be freed from the daily strenuous and back-breaking tasks of walking long distances to fetch water from the river and wood from the veld.
This emancipation must mean that, women should be part of the decision making structures and contribute meaningfully in the growth and development of their own lives. We should make sure that women are armed with the relevant knowledge and skills that enables them to participate in the economic and social development opportunities that are available in our country.
We cannot fail our women who have placed their trust and hopes in us.
I hope that through your deliberations today you will be able to address these concerns and together find solution to common problems that have a bearing on our common destiny as South Africans and people of the Northern Cape Province.
We do not come with solutions but are here as government in order to allow us to engage with each other to find common solutions.
I hope that the presentations that have been made and the input from all the speakers have shed light which will help us understand the issues while at the same time responding to our concerns as people of the this province. I wish you well, may your resolutions drive us towards a path of growth and development.
I thank you
Baie dankie
Ndiyabulela
Ke a leboga
Issued by: Office of the Premier, Northern Cape Provincial Government
15 August 2006
Source: Northern Cape Provincial Government
Title: Peters: Dea and Namakwaland Minerals Resources Workshop
Speech by Northern Cape Premier Mme Dipuo Peters at the Dea and Namakwaland Mineral Resources Workshop, Namakwaland
Programme Director
MEC Pakes Dikgetsi
Honourable Mayors and councillors
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Sustainable and higher economic growth rates in the Northern Cape province hinge on broadening economic activity across sectors already identified in the Provincial Growth and Development Strategy (PGDS), such as manufacturing, procurement within the province, tourism and Small and Medium Micro Enterprise (SMME) development as well as spreading activities on a spatial front.
Our provincial economy poses a serious challenge of stabilising economic growth as a pivot to achieving the six percent target by 2014. The most critical challenge is to develop strategic interventions that will halt the flow of leakages out of the provincial economy.
This workshop is also part of a fulfilment of a promise made by the President of our country Mr Thabo Mbeki in the last Presidential imbizo held in this region.
This promise was made against the backdrop of a plethora of issues raised in the Presidential imbizo held this year. In the main, a large portion of the questions raised by the community related to issues that were largely mining in nature.
The Minister of Minerals and Energy, Mme Buyelwa Sonjica made a commitment that the Department of Minerals and Energy would hold a Mining imbizo to unpack the issues related to mining and seek common solutions to the hiccups experienced by our people who are already in mining and those who wish to make inroads into this sector. I am pleased to announce that Minister Sonjica will be officiating at the mining and investment indaba to be held at the end of this month in Kimberley.
We as a province recognise the significant role that mining has played in our economic sphere and recognise that mining has a life span and therefore it is important that we look at other downstream mining activities that can contribute towards creating a better life for all our people.
We have a joint responsibility of ensuring that residents of this region benefit from the mineral wealth that is present in this district and that the exploitation of these minerals positively impact on the lives of our people.
It is also important that those unexploited deposits in some areas of our province are correctly managed not to create dependency and see our communities as providers of cheap labour only but owners of the means of their own produce.
It is therefore an economic imperative that we need to pursue in as far as continued mining activities are concerned within our country and our province in particular rather than just a noble political ambition. Beneficiation in both Mining and Agricultural sectors is another area that remains critical to ensuring that our people share in the accelerated growth.
Many of us are aware of the fact that although the Northern Cape and Kimberley in particular led the industrial revolution and remains the capital for diamonds in South Africa but there is very little for the city to show off. In fact today the economy of the Province faces tremendous challenges as a result of closure of mines.
The more concerning aspect is the fact that diamonds produced in South Africa have only served to benefit and enrich the rich Western countries. The challenge for us is to ensure that the raw material we mine and export in an unrefined manner or with little if any value addition is significantly made available for the downstream economy.
Our long term view as the Provincial Government is that mining activities should be complimentary to other economic activities. The adoption of the new mining legislation in our view presents us with an array of options with regard to mining as an economic activity that not only ends with the actual raw production of the commodities.
We are taking an extended view of these resources as a province and we see downstream mining activities contributing significantly to our economy. Particular emphasis can be placed on the completion of commodity value chain and minerals beneficiation.
In the State of the Province Address, we mentioned the undertaking of feasibility studies with regard to the mining of other minerals such as granite, travertine, sandstone and slate.
We are pleased to announce that baseline research has already commenced on these minerals and their economic viability in as far as their mining, quarrying and processing into high end products is concerned.
This, we hope, will provide a different approach to how we view mining. Not as an activity that should only be seen as dominated by a single mineral which is diamonds.
We would, in the context of our Provincial Growth and Development Strategy, anticipate that these initiatives will be able to diversify our economic activities in as far as mining is concerned.
This particular research is aimed primarily at determining the availability of these minerals in order to allow us to packaging investment opportunities appropriately. We have found deposits of granite around Concordia, Garies, Poffader and Nababeep areas.
There is an operation currently underway at Garies which primarily concentrates on the manufacturing of tombstones and to a lesser extent usage for decorative purposes.
We need to ensure that these initiatives are not left to die a natural death but are supported in order to encourage other downstream mining activities.
Our province contains a variety of deposits that lend themselves to small scale mining activities the development of which is usually hindered by lack of technical expertise and financial resources.
It is our collective responsibility to ensure that these limited resources are managed and regulated in a manner that will support small scale mining activities.
It is our intention as Provincial Government to ensure that we establish Small Mining and Minerals Development Centres in both Kimberley and Springbok.
These centres would primarily be responsible for providing support to small scale miners and act as a conduit between the Department of Economic Affairs and the Department of Minerals and Energy in the province.
It is also important that small scale miners engage established corporations with a view to forming innovative joint ventures which are mutually beneficial to all parties.
We need to realise that in some instances we own land that have rich mineral resources but do not have the necessary capital layout. It would therefore be in our own interest to engage financial services providers for capital and established businesses for technological and technical expertise.
These relationships can be used to benefit all involved without necessarily compromising each others interests. I am particularly pleased that this workshop is held during women’s month, as we need to collectively support women who wish to make inroads into mining.
We are inundated with grievances from women led companies in many parts of the province, who are experiencing extreme difficulties in getting involved in the mining business and continue to articulate their frustrations in relations to their inability to get funding.
Ladies and gentlemen, the 50th anniversary of the women’s March celebrations is held against the theme of Age of Hope. This therefore means that the 50 years represents hope for all women, hope informed by our experience that today is better than yesterday, and tomorrow will indeed be better than today.
Clearly then, it is important that we do not just talk about women empowerment because it seems fashionable to say so, we must continuously measure the progress we are making in this regard so that we can determine what we should do next to improve on our performance.
Women should use workshops such as these to expedite the process of empowering themselves and assess whether government is doing what should be done to advance the objective of the emancipation of women.
The empowerment of women does not mean having a few women in top positions or having a few shares for compliance purposes or fronting for men. The empowerment must mean that ordinary women in rural or urban areas have an equal opportunity and that they should be freed from the daily strenuous and back-breaking tasks of walking long distances to fetch water from the river and wood from the veld.
This emancipation must mean that, women should be part of the decision making structures and contribute meaningfully in the growth and development of their own lives. We should make sure that women are armed with the relevant knowledge and skills that enables them to participate in the economic and social development opportunities that are available in our country.
We cannot fail our women who have placed their trust and hopes in us.
I hope that through your deliberations today you will be able to address these concerns and together find solution to common problems that have a bearing on our common destiny as South Africans and people of the Northern Cape Province.
We do not come with solutions but are here as government in order to allow us to engage with each other to find common solutions.
I hope that the presentations that have been made and the input from all the speakers have shed light which will help us understand the issues while at the same time responding to our concerns as people of the this province. I wish you well, may your resolutions drive us towards a path of growth and development.
I thank you
Baie dankie
Ndiyabulela
Ke a leboga
Issued by: Office of the Premier, Northern Cape Provincial Government
15 August 2006
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