JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Deputy Mineral Resources Minister Godfrey Oliphant told Radio 702 morning anchor Xolani Gwala on Wednesday that he was “uncomfortable” at having to read about the proposed mineral rights moratorium in the newspapers.

Oliphant, who has served as the deputy to three Mineral Resources Ministers, admitted to being left in the dark by Minerals Minister Mosebenzi Zwane, who on July 19 invited submissions on his intention to suspend mining right, prospecting right and Section 11 ownership transfer applications, and their renewal – a move which has set the cat among the pigeons, and which has been roundly condemned as job destroying by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).

In a strongly worded statement, NUM on Wednesday demanded that the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) desist from implementing the moratorium “with immediate effect”.

"All of this is taking place while we are faced with enormous job losses in various operations amounting to close to 20 000 affected employees," NUM said in a release to Creamer Media's Mining Weekly Online.

Another 3 000 jobs losses could have been added to the list had the Minister not announced the approval of Lonmin’s application to acquire Anglo Platinum’s 42.5% stake in the Pandora platinum mine on Wednesday.

NUM called on the government, either through the Presidential Mining Consultative Forum or other multistakeholder initiatives, to convene an urgent meeting of all stakeholders to resolve matters.

Earlier this week, Kumba Iron Ore CEO Themba Mkhwanazi expressed concern about the Minister’s moratorium gazetting following so closely on the heels of his agreement with the Chamber of Mines not to implement the controversial Mining Charter Three.

Herbert Smith Freehills’ Africa partner and co-chair Peter Leon said Zwane’s moratorium notice inferred an intention to circumvent the underlying purpose of the hold-back agreement with the chamber, which this week retaliated by serving an urgent High Court application to have the notice set aside.

In the Radio 702 interview, Gwala asked Oliphant whether he had been consulted on the moratorium gazetting.

“No, the Minister did not raise the matter of suspending licences with me,” said Oliphant, who admitted to being “uncomfortable” about not being consulted.

Gwala: “So he’s doing this single-handedly?”

Oliphant: “He is the Minister, after all.”

Gwala: “But he’s clearly destroying the sector, right in front of your eyes.”

Oliphant: “No, no, no. This sector is too strong to be destroyed by any one person.”

Gwala: “But he will have an impact.”

Oliphant: “The impact will be there, but it’ll be unravelled and the damage will be corrected.”

Gwala: “Is the DMR captured?”

Oliphant: “I’m not captured and can never be captured.”

In condemning the moratorium move, NUM forecast that it would be found wanting by a court of law, as it deviated from the principles and objectives of the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act.

Meanwhile, former President and one-time NUM luminary Kgalema Motlanthe reportedly condemned the propensity of “captured States" to jettison due process in legal matters.

Times Live reports that in a speech at a public interest law gathering at the University of the Western Cape, Motlanthe described the current legislative environment as a "hell of a disadvantage for poor communities"‚ which is exacerbated "if you have a captured State".

Motlanthe reportedly chairs a 17-person panel tasked by Parliament to investigate current legislation and how it impacts on South Africans, particularly in the areas of the equitable redistribution of wealth‚ land restitution, nation building and social cohesion.

The panel's three working groups have reportedly received more than 1 000 written submissions.

In response to a mining-related question from the audience, Motlanthe reportedly said the panel's engagements had revealed that it took some eight years to set up a mining project, from the time of prospecting to the point where mining operations could commence, and that “only people with deep pockets” had the wherewithal to sustain such long periods of investment.

Mining Weekly Online learns that finer details of the work of the panel are expected to be released at the end of August.