A statement from the French Embassy points out that about 650 00 people are employed by the 400 French companies operating in South Africa. 

They range from from international companies to small and medium enterprises.

Visiting South Africa earlier this month, 

French Foreign Trade Minister Franck Riester confirmed valued at R20 billion for the next five years years.

The embassy says France remains on track to deliver these pledges  in the energy, construction, agriculture and service sectors. 

“South African authorities recently announced massive economic recovery efforts, to finance projects in the fields of infrastructure and sustainable development. French companies also stand ready to participate in this recovery plan to help rebuild the South African economy,” says the embassy statement

Opening the conference, Minieral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe noted difficult conditions this year due to the pandemic which has hit economies of the world to extents never seen before. 

“The impact on South Africa’s economy is compounded by the fact that the virus found us already in a technical recession due to an economic decline in two consecutive quarters. This was followed by a double downgrade by two rating agencies in March and April this year.” he said

“Mining, like all other economic sectors has not been spared. In response to this challenge, in the economic recovery and reconstruction plan, we have identified a number of interventions that will place the minerals and energy sectors on a recovery and growth path.

“One of the interventions is the recognition that exploration is the lifeblood of mining. We must prospect, explore and exploit the world-class mineral deposits we have.

“We will resuscitate the green field exploration with the aim of capturing a minimum of 5% of the global exploration share, which averages US$10 Billion per annum. We have deliberately decided to invest in the geoscience mapping programme, through the Council for Geoscience (CGS). We believe this will boost investor confidence due to availability of more reliable geoscience data.

“We have already started actioning the interventions in the recovery plan. For exploration, the Department, CGS and Industry captains are hard at work drafting the country’s exploration strategy which will be the roadmap for the country’s exploration programme.

“We acknowledge the role of artisanal mining in the bigger economy. The policy team in the Department is in the process of drafting the Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM) policy. Currently, the MPRDA does not define ASM concept and does not sufficiently cater for the artisanal mining industry.

“Small scale miners are virtually treated the same as large-scale miners in terms of environmental, water use, health and safety and financial provisioning requirements. This policy will recognise and redefine the role and contribution of the small-scale mining sector to the economy while making provision for its licensing parameters. We see this as an important driver to more investments into smaller high economic impact mining projects.

“Energy is the epicenter of economic growth. Recognition of this fact is very much evident in the interventions we have placed in the economic recovery and reconstruction plan. We have committed and started implementing several interventions to ensure security of energy supply which will in turn drive economic recovery and growth. This includes fast tracking the registration and licensing of generation projects for own use. Energy security and availability factor are at the top of our agenda.”

The minister called on all the investors at this conference to come forward and partner with South Africa as it  rebuilds and grows the minerals energy complex.

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Led by their former  Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, South Africans breathed a sigh of relief when President Cyril Ramaphosa scrapped plans to buy a nuclear power plant from Russia that would have been ruinously expensive.

But it is not over.

Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe says this week that South Africa is still in the market for  nuclear energy, provided it can be purchased economically.

This is necessitated by  the financially hamstrung Electricity Supply Commission becoming  a millstone around the exchequer’s neck, by failing to meet its crippling debt burden. 

The Commission, which once sold power to all of South Africa neighbors and produced cheap electricity that was a loadstone to foreign heavy industrial investors,  is now no longer able to meet South Africa’s domestic needs with its pool of aged and poorly maintained coal-fired power stations.

The daily blackouts are proving to be an  deterrent to those very investors the power once attracted.

Mantashe is adamant SouthAfrica will not go for the big bang approach to nuclear energy taken by Jacob Zuma.

The disgraced former President now says ruefully if his nuclear plans had been allowed to come to fruition, South Africa would have been saved the rolling blackouts – known euphemistically as load shedding –  it is now experiencing.

Mantashe offers an altogether more cautious approach:

“It comes back to a resolution we took as a government: not going big bang  to nuclear , but going at a pace and price that the country can afford. Go modular, go at a pace and a price that the country can afford.”

He says the state’s Integrated Resource Plan contains provisions for nuclear energy, but acquiring it will first need approval by government.

The former trade union leader and secretary general of the ruling African National Congress, Mantashe now heads a merged Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry.

He says South Africa must plan for a new nuclear plant to come on line after 2045.

Until then, the country’s only nuclear plant at Koeberg, outside Cape Town, will have it life extended.

Local business has reacted cooly to this development.

The general belief  is that the promises made to Russia by Zuma were  secured with hefty bribes.

Zuma is facing corruption charges and further evidence of this is expected to come to light before the judicial commission on corruption which is known in South Africa as state capture.

“The fact that we suspected corruption,” says Mantashe of the Russian deal, “ does not mean nuclear energy is irrelevant for South Africa today.”

Whether a search for affordable nuclear energy will once again bring France into the equasion is uncertain.

Mantashe reference to the  use of modular nuclear technology at a pace it can afford – indicates the construction of smaller plants.

Investors warn that nuclear energy production of any size is expensive.

Economic realities – a soaring unemployment rate of more than a third of the workforce out of jobs and youth unemployment exceeding  50% – and sluggish Gross Domestic Product growth will keep  South Africa out of this market for the foreseeable future.

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The gathering, hosted by the regional grouping SADC, has drawn participation from 28 countries.

At the ministerial meeting, the point was repeated made that international solidarity had been effective in ending colonialism and apartheid.

Morocco, which is responsible for the last act of colonialism in Africa, has tried to deflect attention from this summit by holding a meeting on Western Sahara in Marrakesh.

ANC chairman Gwede Mantashe says Morocco’s  tactic of using the proceeds from stolen Western Sahara resources to buy influence is not surprising.

“I would have expected that from Morocco., because they are exploiting Western Sahara resources. They are using them to by support and they are succeeding,” he said

The Marrakesh meeting broke up yesterday.

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It is acting on behalf of  shareholders seeking to recover losses suffered by a sharp fall in the gold producer’s share price.

Shares in Sibanye Stillwater plunged after a spate of deaths at its mines.

There have been 21 fatalities at the company’s mines this year – that is almost half the number of miners killed in  South Africa.

The death toll in country’s mining industry  in 2017 was  88.

Bernstein Liebhard said in a statement their suit would deal with what they call misleading statements made by the precious metals producer.

Accidents that have cast a shadow over the company’s operations include  950 miners  trapped underground for 33 hours because of a power outage at the Beatrix mine in the Free State in January

The National Union of Mineworkers  says company should have had contingency plans to deal with power cuts and urged workers to refuse to work in dangerous conditions.

A few days later, two mineworkers died in a rockfall at Sibanye’s Kloof mine on the West Rand.

Less than a week later another miner died at the company’s Driefontein mine west of Johannesburg

Another  worker died at the Khuseleka mine in Rustenburg.

Last month Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe describes as a disaster the death seven workers in a seismic event in Driefontiein.

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He’s brought back ministers sacked by his predecessor Jacob Zuma that will be popular with investors and the market.

The opposition has criticized his failure to downsize the executive because, he says,  this is still under review.

ends intro

President Cyril Ramaphosa says the Cabinet announcement was 90-minutes late because he had to consult with ministers who were appointed and some who were leaving.

The biggest compromise is his naming Mpumalanga premier David Mabuza as his Deputy President.

Mabuza, who is also deputy president of the ANC is credited with producing  the delegates that gave Ramaphosa his narrow victory as party leader last December.

Former finance minister Pravin Gordhan returns as Minister of Public Enterprises.

Nhlanhla Nene, sacked by Jacob Zuma, makes a comeback as Finance Minister.

ANC national chairman Gwede Mantashe, who has a background of leading a miner’s union, is appointed Minister of Mines.

Communist Party leader Blade Nzimande also makes a return to Cabinet as Transport Minister.

Lindiwe Sisulu, widely tipped to be Ramaphosa’s second-in-command, comes in a Minister of International Relations and Cooperation.

Malusi Gigaba, much criticized for his connection to the Gupta family that’s been accused of state capture with the Zuma administration, has been moved from Finance to  Home Affairs.

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