Gwede Mantashe blasts department bedevilled by corruption
The minister vows to clean up backlogs in application process for mining rights and licences
Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe conceded on Tuesday the application process for mining rights and licences was "fraught with corruption". These and other challenges were inhibiting the development of the sector. The problems contributed to a decline in prospecting rights, unprocessed applications and unexplained red tape, Mantashe said in his budget vote speech in Parliament. He undertook to tackle the problems "aggressively" and to restore the reputation of the mineral resources department. "The preliminary investigation has found that the backlog on new mineral right applications stretches as far back as 2012 in some regional offices. "It has further been found that the applications for renewal of prospecting right applications go as far back as to 2010. "The implication of unprocessed renewal applications is that it blocks any other party from applying for mineral rights in that area. No satisfactory reasons were advanced as to why we have these backlogs. The word in th...
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