Cape Town - The Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe says that the country needs to move away from divisive debates about single energy technologies.
Mantashe was speaking at the Mining and Energy Investment Conference in North West on Thursday.
The minister said that it was time to move away from “frivolous defiance, resistance, and protests” against the development of alternative industries to power our economy, such as the upstream petroleum industry.
“Our task as delegates to this conference is to explore ways in which we can attract sustainable investments in South Africa’s mining and energy sectors. During these two days, we expect constructive deliberations from all delegates which must help us and encourage us to build a sunrise industry.”
Statistics South Africa recently released its key findings for the fourth quarter of 2022, when the real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) decreased by 1.3%. According to the report, the mining and quarrying industry decreased by 3.2% and thus contributed -0.1% to the GDP growth.
“Key to this negative contribution is a decrease in economic activities for the diamond, iron ore and platinum group metals (PGMs) that this province, the North West, is endowed with.
“In January 2023, mining production experienced its twelfth consecutive month-to-month decline, recording a decrease of 1.9%. This is in part due to the domestic challenges.
“At this stage, like never before, our industry needs to advance a commitment to working together as stakeholders on the reconstruction and recovery of the mining industry. The industry must be seen within the context of the changes facing all South Africans during these challenging times,” he said.
The energy conference comes against the backdrop of the Energy Indaba that took place at the International Convention Centre (ICC) in Cape Town earlier this month. The minister’s keynote address was disrupted by Greenpeace Africa activists who called for the fast tracking of the shift to renewable energy.
The six activists held up banners, with messages including “stop blocking renewables”, while mobile speakers played messages from the South African public expressing their outrage at the government’s inaction on the electricity crisis.
Greenpeace Africa's climate and energy campaigner, Thandile Chinyavanhu, said at the time: “Coal is a dangerous dead-end pushing South Africa to the brink of destruction, yet almost all of South Africa's electricity comes from an ancient fleet of coal-fired power stations which are literally falling apart and breaking down more quickly than they can be fixed.
“Fast-tracking a shift to renewable energy is clearly the solution, but the biggest blocker in the way of getting us out of the oppressive darkness of the electricity crisis is standing at the podium today.”
Cape Times