DA asks Mantashe for clarity on state funding for artisanal mining in Northern Cape
11 January 2019
The Democratic Alliance in the Northern Cape is calling on the Minister of Minerals and Resources, Gwede Mantashe, to come clean on promises of funding to assist artisanal miners in the Namaqualand area.
This comes after diggers raised concerns that that funds intended to benefit small-mining projects would be misused by the failing ANC for political purposes ahead of the elections.
According to artisanal mining structures, there is no evidence of the R1 million that was reportedly already allocated for the establishment of cooperatives for artisanal miners. There has also been no further clarity around reports that the department would allocate an additional amount of R50 million to support the small-scale mining project.
Given that the failing ANC has largely neglected artisanal mining in the province since the industry was exposed six years ago by the Bontekoe tragedy, that saw 11 miners lose their lives, there is much skepticism as to whether the failing ANC’s sudden interest in developing artisanal mining is pure or purely for vote winning purposes.