Toby Chance: Cabinet showdown looms with “Mr Coal” Mantashe over Special Economic Zone

In 2018, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the Musina Makhado Special Economic Zone intended to attract more than R40 billion in investment. Seven years later, Toby Chance, the Democratic Alliance’s spokesperson on Trade, Industry and Competition describes how expenditure has run into “hundreds of millions of rands” with planned expenditure of “upwards of two billion Rand over the next couple of years” while “most of the work has been abandoned…uncompleted roads…electricity that hasn't been connected…huge dumps of materials that are sort of sitting idle”. However, one of two investors, a Chinese mining company, has already started clearing large areas on the south side to expose the coal seams. This as several civil societies are trying to stop the SEZ project with lawsuits. Eventually, it will be the call of Environment Minister Dr Dion George. “He has the power to effectively close it down, which unfortunately will cause a bit of a stink with the Minister Mineral Resources, Mr Mantashe - being Mr Coal in this country - because the whole development, certainly on the south side, is based on a massive exploitation of the coal fields. He would be keen to see that happening. A lot of contestation at Cabinet level and we say bring it on…”

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