LEGISLA TIVE AND REGULA T OR Y ENVIRONMENT C ONTINUED S tr a t egic Goal 2 MPRD A Amendment Bill T he Minis t er of the DMRE brief ed the P ortf olio C ommitt ee on Miner al R esour c es in A ugus t 20 18 and e xpr es sed his int ention t o pr opose t o the Cabinet tha t the MPRD A Amendment Bill which had been under discus sion sinc e 20 12 be withdr a wn T he Minis t er w as of the vie w tha t the curr ent act w as adequa t e t o go v ern the indus try Although ther e w as no f ormal Cabinet r esolution endorsing the Minis t er s pr oposal of withdr a wing the Bill in 20 19 the Minis t er published the amendments t o the MPRD A r egula tions f or implementa tion on 2 7 Mar ch 20 20 Land R ef orm R e vie w of Section 25 of the C ons titution T he Miner als C ouncil and its members participa t ed in the br oader land r ef orm deba t e r egar ding the amendment of Section 25 of the C ons titution T he Miner als C ouncil and its members r ec ognise tha t the is sue of land r ef orm is a social jus tic e and c ons titutional imper a tiv e tha t mus t be addr es sed giv en South A frica s his t ory of dispos ses sion and the triple challenges of po v erty s tructur al inequality and unemplo yment W e r emain s t eadf as t in our c ommitment t o w orking c ollabor a tiv ely with the s ta t e t o achie v e the objectiv e of ef ectiv e and sus tainable land r ef orm W ith r egar d t o pr oposals t o amend Section 25 of the C ons titution t o allo w f or e xpr opria tion without c ompensa tion the Miner als C ouncil and its members ar e of the vie w tha t Section 25 of the C ons titution should not be amended until all the a v ailable ins truments pr o vided in the C ons titution t o bring about an ef ectiv e and sus tainable land r ef orm pr ogr amme ha v e been e xhaus t ed W e belie v e it might be mor e appr opria t e t o giv e ef ect t o Section 25 of the C ons titution thr ough appr opria t e legisla tion polic y and other measur es tha t f acilita t e equitable ac c es s t o land Diesel r eba t e r ef orm s y s t em Giv en the signifcant t echnical and legal challenges of the curr ent diesel r eba t e s y s t em the Miner als C ouncil has been activ ely engaged in lobb ying r ele v ant go v ernment s tak eholders with a vie w t o fnding appr opria t e solutions In A ugus t 20 18 the Miner als C ouncil s T ax P olic y C ommitt ee members participa t ed in a series of c onsulta tiv e w orkshops with Na tional T r easury and the South A frican R e v enue Servic e S ARS t o discus s their dr aft pr oposals r egar ding a ne w diesel r efund designed t o addr es s the challenges identifed b y the mining indus try On 31 January 20 20 S ARS is sued dr aft rules r egar ding the ne w diesel r efund scheme T he en visaged scheme seems t o be in line with the inf orma tion tha t the y p r o v i d e d a t the mining w orkshops held in 20 18 with T r easury which includes a separ a t e diesel r efund scheme tha t will be adminis t er ed via efling and will r equir e electr onic submis sion of c ontr acts pur chase agr eements and as sets r egis t ers Joint v entur es and c ontr act ors will be allo w ed t o r egis t er delinking the diesel r efund s y s t em fr om the V A T s y s t em R e vised Housing and Living C onditions S tandar d On 20 Mar ch 20 19 the Minis t er of Miner al R esour c es and Ener gy published the Dr aft R e vie w ed Housing and Living C onditions S tandar d f or the Miner als Indus try 20 19 the S tandar d in t erms of section 1001a of the MPRD A T he Miner als C ouncil identifed a number of k e y legal and pr actical challenges in r ela tion t o the S tandar d including a r equir ement which sought t o impose enf or c eable legal obliga tions on holders of mining rights r egar ding the ac quisition of land f or housing undertaking of housing de v elopments and the pr o vision of housing options F ollo wing a number of c ons tructiv e bila t er al discus sions with the DMRE the Miner als C ouncil w as v ery pleased t o see tha t the department had tak en int o c onsider a tion its c onc erns in the fnal R e vised Housing and Living C onditions S tandar d published on 11 Dec ember 20 19 En vir onmental legisla tion A c ountry s ability t o thriv e ec onomically r equir es a subs tantial degr ee of r egula t ory c ertainty T her ef or e a s table r egula t ory en vir onment f or the mining indus try is an imper a tiv e and the Miner als C ouncil thr ough its En vir onment department pla y s a crucial r ole in adv ancing the int er es ts of the indus try and ensuring tha t ther e is c onsis t ent and c oher ent en vir onmentally sus tainable legisla tion de v eloped b y go v ernment T he f ollo wing ar e some of the legisla tion and r egula tions tha t the Miner als C ouncil has activ ely engaged in on behalf of its members NEMLA IV Amendment Bill T he Miner als C ouncil also r esponded t o the call f or writt en submis sion on the NEMLA Amendment Bill 14D of 20 17 as amended and adopt ed b y the P ortf olio C ommitt ee Our submis sions t o P arliament w er e made on 6 Dec ember 20 19 and k e y c omments included Support the need f or inclusion in the NEMLA IV Bill of the pr o vision tha t r emo v es the defnition of MRD S fr om the NEM W as t e A ct T he need t o maintain c onsis t ent t erminology with other r ela t ed e xis ting legisla tion such as those pr o vided f or in the MPRD A P age 7 2