INTER AND INTRA-DEPARTMENTAL COORDINATION IS KEY TO GOVERNMENT ACHIEVING MINERAL BENEFICIATION – PROFESSOR TUROK

INTER AND INTRA-DEPARTMENTAL COORDINATION IS KEY TO GOVERNMENT ACHIEVING MINERAL BENEFICIATION – PROFESSOR TUROK

Former Member of Parliament and Director of the Institute for African Alternatives (IFAA), Professor Ben Turok says that inter and intra-governmental coordination is woefully lacking and that if it is not urgently addressed, South Africa will never achieve its mineral beneficiation objectives. Turok was speaking at an Economic Policy Dialogue on Mineral Beneficiation in South Africa that was hosted by the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) in Pretoria today.

“The key point is that South Africa plays host to a mixed economy and if we can fix the intra and inter-departmental coordination plus the mineral value chain, we would then go a long way in achieving beneficiation,” said Turok.

He added that another factor that hampers mineral beneficiation is that the private sector puts up short term plans instead of long term ones.

“Where are the fifty-year long term plans?” asked Turok.

“Both the private and the public sectors exist in a mutually-dependent relationship and a time has come for the two to find one another. Our economic growth rate is at 0%, and if we do not repair the system of our economy, then we are in trouble,” he stressed.

Speaking on the Chamber of Mines’ position on mineral beneficiation, its president Mr Mike Teke said that the Chamber supported mineral beneficiation in South Africa.

“We are excited at government Mining Phakisa and are looking at collaborating. We do take transformation seriously and believe that sitting and collaborating with government will help develop South African mining into a global competitive force,” said Teke

While in agreement with Professor Turok and Mr Teke, Dr Paul Jourdan stressed the need for trade-offs in optimising the resources regime for sustainable development.

“We must accept foreign direct investment but phase-in indigenisation and include linkages targets in resource licenses. They won’t happen through market forces alone,” he said.

The Economic Policy Dialogue sessions serve as a key platform to trigger discussions in economic policy spaces. The sessions are designed to stimulate public intellectual discourse on contemporary economic and policy matters, including participation by Members of Parliament (MPs), academia, organised labour and business, think-tanks, government officials and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs).