S tr a t egic Goal 2 W ithdr a w al of fnancial pr o vision b y the Minis t er during nonc omplianc e Oner ous auditing r equir ements c eding of fnancial pr o vision funds f or la t ent and r esidual impact t o the Minis try tr ansitional arr angements tax implica tions et c F ollo wing the publica tion of the r ec ently pr oposed amendments t o the 20 15 NEMA Financial Pr o vision R egula tions the Miner als C ouncil participa t ed in a s tak eholder w orkshop c on v ened b y the DEFF on 12 June 20 19 t o engage further with the department on some of the serious is sues of c onc ern t o the indus try In addition the Miner als C ouncil also had a bila t er al engagement with the DEFF on 26 June 20 19 a t which indus try c onc erns w er e tabled and discus sed T he Miner als C ouncil w as af or ded an opportunity t o elabor a t e on its c onc erns on the lis t of is sues and wher e pos sible t o pr o vide sugges tions f or impr o v ement E v en aft er the deliber a tions the Miner als C ouncil w as not c on vinc ed tha t ther e w as appr ecia tion of the indus try c onc erns b y the department Further t o this the Miner als C ouncil also made a f ormal submis sion t o the department on these critical is sues In Dec ember 20 19 the DEFF is sued a gaz ett e indica ting the appr o v al b y the Minis t er t o e xt end c omplianc e with the 20 15 NEMA Financial Pr o vision R egula tions as amended f or e xis ting holders within the ne xt 16 months T he ne w deadline f or c omplianc e is no w June 20 21 T his e xt ension is es sential t o allo w f or sufcient time f or r esolutions on mining indus try c onc erns Na tional En vir onmental Management W as t e A ct R egula tions Planning and management of r esidue s t ockpiles and r esidue deposits fr om pr ospecting mining e xplor a tion or pr oduction oper a tion On the other hand the Miner als C ouncil managed t o infuenc e the DEFF t o de v elop and adopt r egula tions r ela ting t o the Planning and management of r esidue s t ockpiles and r esidue deposits fr om pr ospecting mining e xplor a tion or pr oduction oper a tion r egula tions which f all under the NEM W as t e A ct T hese r egula tions alle via t e the oner ous w as t e permit applica tion r equir ements under the Na tional W a t er A ct and pr o vide f or a risk based appr oach during a w as t e permit applica tion f or mining oper a tions Na tional Dus t C ontr ol R egula tions T he Miner als C ouncil submitt ed writt en c omments on the dr aft Na tional Dus t C ontr ol R egula tions tha t w er e published b y the DEA pr oposing tha t the r egula tions e x clude the mining indus try because the MPRD A has c ompr ehensiv e dus t management r equir ements in t erms of the Mine Health and Saf ety A ct W e a w ait f eedback fr om the DEFF Health legisla tion A major de v elopment f or the Miner als C ouncil s Health Department c onc erns the Na tional Health Insur anc e NHI Bill T he NHI Bill w as pr omulga t ed b y the DoH in July 20 19 T his f ollo w ed the publica tions of the Gr een P aper and the W hit e P aper in earlier y ears as w ell as a pr e vious NHI Bill tha t w as intr oduc ed in 20 18 C omments w er e submitt ed b y the Miner als C ouncil on all these papers as w ell as the 20 18 Bill Nedlac deliber a tions c ommenc ed on the W hit e P aper in 20 17 but meetings w er e infr equent being r egularly o v ertak en b y other initia tiv es fr om the DoH T hese initia tiv es included the Pr esidential Health Summit on the NHI f or which task t eams w er e f ormed t o c onclude a c ompact on the NHI T he July 20 19 NHI Bill seeks t o A chie v e univ ersal ac c es s t o quality health car e servic es in South A frica in ac c or danc e with section 2 7 of the C ons titution Es tablish a Na tional Health Insur anc e Fund Set out the NHI po w er functions and go v ernanc e s tructur es Pr o vide a fr ame w ork f or the s tr a t egic pur chasing of health car e servic es b y the Fund on behalf of users Cr ea t e mechanisms f or the equitable ef ectiv e and efcient utilisa tion of the r esour c es of the Fund t o meet the healthcar e needs of the popula tion and t o pr eclude or limit undesir able unethical and unla wful pr actic es in r ela tion t o the Fund and its users T he Miner als C ouncil made a submis sion dr a wing on the r esults of a s tudy tha t had been c ommis sioned earlier on the impact the NHI w ould ha v e on the mining indus try A k e y health servic e pr o vided b y mining c ompanies oc cupa tional health servic es will not be part of the NHI and c ompanies will c ontinue t o pr o vide these servic es An amendment made in the NHI Bill is tha t all medical servic es pr o vided b y the c ompensa tion funds c o v er ed b y C OID A should be funded thr ough the NHI T he Miner als C ouncil is part of the Nedlac NHI T ask T eam and is championing discus sions on the impact of NHI on oc cupa tional health and c ompensa tion legisla tion LEGISLA TIVE AND REGULA T OR Y ENVIRONMENT C ONTINUED P age 7 4