The residents of Bojanala Platinum District in North West who made oral submissions during the public hearings on the Upstream Petroleum Resources Development (UPRD) Bill [B13-2021] at the Ben Marais Hall in Rustenburg, proposed that the 10 per cent interest participation by black-owned companies as contained in Clause 31 of the Bill should be increased.
The Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources and Energy held the third and last public hearings on this Bill in North West, following the two that were held on Friday and Saturday in Ngaka Modiri Molema and Dr Kenneth Kaunda districts.
Clause 31 in this current form of the Bill makes a provision for 10% interest participation by black persons in petroleum rights on commercial terms. The clause defines “black persons” for the purposes of 10% participation to mean a company that is 51% owned by black persons.
The committee will wrap up the public hearing process on this Bill in Gauteng in the coming weekend of 26-28 May 2023. The UPRD Bill seeks to separate petroleum provision from the mineral provision, as currently provided for in the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (Act No. 28 of 2002).
The separation is also aimed at providing two independent pieces of legislation to address matters pertinent to each industry and to bring about stability and security to investors, especially in the upstream petroleum sector.
Furthermore, the Bill enhances state participation in the upstream petroleum industry and economic transformation of the industry. It includes provisions that promote petroleum resource development in a sustainable and equitable manner for the benefit of all South Africans.
The public hearings are conducted in line with Section 59 (1) (a) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, which requires the National Assembly to facilitate public involvement in the legislative and other processes of the NA and its committees.
The Acting Chairperson of the committee, Mr Mikateko Mahlaule, said that the committee values all inputs from members of the public and that it has set aside three months in its programme to consider all submissions and deliberate at the end of the public hearing process in all nine provinces.