NATIONAL ASSEMBLY : 5th June 2008
 

Madame Speaker, 

When the national electricity crisis turned into an emergency at the end of January this year, the Minister of Public Enterprises, was bold enough to state that he did not expect the weeklong shutdown of the mining industry between 25 and 31 January to have much effect on our economy. 

How wrong he was!  

This week the Chamber of Mines announced that SA's gold production in the first quarter of 2008 fell by more than 15% when compared to the last quarter of 2007. When compared to the first quarter of 2007, gold production fell by almost 17% in the first quarter of this year.

The industry lays the blame for this massive reduction squarely on the weeklong shutdown, and the 10% electricity saving forced on it from the beginning of February.

According to figures supplied by the Chamber of Mines, "the gold mining industry accounted for R40 billion or 7.5% of South Africa's merchandise exports and employed 168 860 employees or 34% of total mining employment in 2007".   

The IFP is of the view that our economy cannot afford a repeat of the late January electricity fiasco that so badly hurt exports and employment. The mining industry may be an industry in decline, but it is still vital for forex earnings, industrial output, the balance of payments and tax revenue, not to mention employment levels.

Perhaps someone should inform the Minister of Public Enterprises of this fact.  

Thank you