Today, the job-killing Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA) Amendment Bill was passed – without amendments – in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP). This means it will now go directly to President Zuma for assent.

This is of great concern to the DA, as it will have a devastating consequence on both our economy and our fight against corruption.

As such, the DA has now begun a process to petition President Zuma, in terms of Section 79 of the Constitution, to send this bill back to the National Assembly for reconsideration.

Indeed, this Bill provides no certainty for investors, who as a result will pull their resources leaving our economy in shambles – which will result in our people losing their jobs and being subjected to a life of poverty. The problems are numerous:

• In its current form, the Bill provides no certainty regarding South Africa’s current mining law. This Bill contains more than 30 instances where key rules will be decided by regulation rather than legislation. These regulations, decided upon by the Minister, can be chopped and changed at will meaning that investors are not provided with any sureties. It also leaves the door wide open for potential corrupt activities to occur.
• This Bill also gives the Minister power to block exports of mineral products.
• Government is given the power to nationalise any drilling operation that finds oil or gas at fire sale prices. Drilling companies can be forced, after they have given away 20% free carried interest, to give away the other 80% at price that is at the government’s discretion. This is essentially expropriation and a violation of Section 25 in our Constitution and could be challenged in the Constitutional Court.
• The DA has in its possession a legal opinion which shows that the 20% free carry interest in any oil or gas drilling operation amounts to an additional tax. All Bills that introduce a tax is considered a Money Bill, which has to be introduced by the Minister of Finance as per requirement by our Constitution. Seeing as this Bill was introduced by Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu as a Section 76 bill, it is thus unconstitutional.  
• In the ANC’s attempt to bulldoze this Bill through Parliament, NCOP procedures were disregarded and as a result there was not a sufficient period of public consultation. The DA’s ‘minority report’ was not even included in the final report, as is common practice.

The MPRDA Amendment Bill if signed into legislation will batter our economy; deter investment and ultimately result in job losses. It should never have been passed, and President Zuma must now do the right thing and refer it back to Parliament for it to be fixed.