Submission to Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources on the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Amendment Bill [B15-2013]

A joint submission by five environmental organisations to the Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources regarding the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Amendment Bill [B15-2013]. The submission argues that the Bill and the principal Act fail to protect constitutional rights to fair administrative action and access to information for parties affected by mining.

• The Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA) and the proposed Amendment Bill fail to provide adequate notice and consultation for parties affected by mining, violating the right to fair administrative action under section 33 of the Constitution and the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act (PAJA).
• Current consultation timeframes are insufficient; for instance, interested and affected persons are given only 30 days to submit comments and objections to mining right applications, often without access to the application documents themselves.
• The Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) and mining companies frequently withhold critical information, such as Social and Labour Plans (SLPs), from the communities they are intended to benefit, which the submission describes as a practice reminiscent of the apartheid government.
• Mining companies often limit consultation exclusively to traditional authorities, ignoring the broader community and potentially creating social rifts when benefits are distributed only to traditional leaders.
• The proposed Regional Mining Development and Environment Committee (RMDEC) structure is criticised for lacking diverse expertise (such as water science and sociology) and for having a conflict of interest by appointing the Regional Manager as ex officio chairperson.
• The submission claims the DMR failed to conduct meaningful community consultation on the Amendment Bill itself, noting that consultations mentioned in the memorandum allegedly took place in 2011, prior to the draft bill's publication in December 2012.

APA

Centre for Environmental Rights (2013). Submission to Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources on the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Amendment Bill [B15-2013]. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Joint-Submission-on-MPRDA-Amendment-Bill-6-Sept-2013-Administrative-Justice-Consultation-and-Access-to-Information.pdf?x21779

Chicago

Centre for Environmental Rights. Submission to Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources on the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Amendment Bill [B15-2013]. 2013. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Joint-Submission-on-MPRDA-Amendment-Bill-6-Sept-2013-Administrative-Justice-Consultation-and-Access-to-Information.pdf?x21779.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Centre for Environmental Rights |title=Submission to Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources on the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Amendment Bill [B15-2013] |date=6 September 2013 |url=https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Joint-Submission-on-MPRDA-Amendment-Bill-6-Sept-2013-Administrative-Justice-Consultation-and-Access-to-Information.pdf?x21779 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{centreforenvironmentalrights2013submission, author = {{Centre for Environmental Rights}}, title = {{Submission to Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources on the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Amendment Bill [B15-2013]}}, publisher = {Centre for Environmental Rights}, year = {2013}, month = sep, url = {https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Joint-Submission-on-MPRDA-Amendment-Bill-6-Sept-2013-Administrative-Justice-Consultation-and-Access-to-Information.pdf?x21779}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }