Johannesburg — Not enough had been done to rehabilitate derelict and disowned mines, MPs from across the political spectrum complained yesterday.
Their comments were based on the findings of a special investigation by the auditor-general that estimated that the total cost of rehabilitating these mines would be about R30bn. The report concluded that insufficient action had been taken to deal with the 5906 derelict and abandoned mines, 1730 of which have been categorised as high risk in terms of acid mine drainage.
In their defence, officials told Parliament's mineral resources committee that the government was having to address the legacy of more than a century of mining operations over which there had been little regulation regarding rehabilitation.
They promised that a plan with clear targets and budgets was being worked on and a dedicated rehabilitation oversight committee would be established. Capacity in the Department of Minerals and Energy had also been strengthened.
Acting director-general Thami Gazi was confident the measures adopted would address the concerns of the auditor-general. The committee heard that 108 of the 900 unsafe mine holes had been sealed in the East Rand at a cost of R33m and the Florida canal constructed at a cost of R16m to manage water ingress.
But this was not good enough for African National Congress MP Nomvula Mathibela, who said the situation was "very unsatisfactory".
"Between 2002 (when more stringent environmental requirements under the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act came into force) and 2009 nothing has been done," she said.
Her fellow member Nombuyiselo Ngele said: "It seems that everything is just lacking. I don't understand how you people work. Everything is in process. If it is in process, nothing happens. Nothing is happening, only promises that we are going to do something."
Committee chairman Fred Gona added his voice to the common view that the responses by officials were not convincing and only scratched the surface of the issues raised by the auditor-general's report. SA as a water scarce country could not allow its water resources to be contaminated by the mines to the extent that was taking place. It would take decades to fix the problem at the current rate of spending, he said.
Deputy director-general for mineral policy, Faith Nzimande, replied that there were a lot of complicated legal and licensing issues around the pumping, treatment and reuse of water. Things were happening but in the background as research work rather than work on the ground.
