09 May 2022

Botswana is applying Environment, Social and Governance (ESP) principles in its approach to mining, President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi has told the ongoing Mining Indaba in Cape Town, South Africa.

“ESG, a process of considering environmental, social and governance factors when making investment decisions, has become a leading form of sustainable finance in a number of companies and jurisdictions,” he explained in his keynote address yesterday.

President Masisi said in line with ESG ideals, Botswana’s Minerals Policy of 2021 aimed to strengthen and outline government’s role in mineral resources management.

Through the policy,  he said, government sought to ensure  a  competitive investment environment, security of tenure, transparent predictable fiscal regime, environmental protection, public safety, sustainable economic growth and livelihoods.

The President said as the mining world emerged from the effects of COVID-19 on economies,  Botswana looked forward to a resuscitated minerals sector boosted by revived copper production, increased demand for rough diamonds as well as improved gem prices.

“Botswana has been able to vaccinate 64 per cent of the target population, exceeding the World Health Organisation set target of 40 per cent by December 2021. This milestone I believe should incentivise investors to visit as the risk of the spread of COVID-19 is within manageable thresholds,” Dr Masisi said.

Speaking at the same event, Zambian president, Mr Hakainde Hichilema said African government needed to pursue sustainable programmes through mining in order to drive development and alleviate poverty.

They should include downstream linkages to build strong manufacturing industries and upstream strengthening of traditional mining and its provision of goods and services, he said.

Mr Hichilema said Africa should desist from rhetoric and focus on actualising the African Union’s Agenda 2063 of industrialising the continent.

South Africa’s Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Mr Gwede Mantashe buttressed the point that Africa needed to invest in mineral beneficiation and value addition ventures as well as in widespread access to key services for citizens and communities.

That, he said, would change the historical legacy where mining, developed during the colonial era, saw rail and road infrastructure built directly from mines to ports for the colonisers’ benefit to the detriment of Africans.

Mr Mantashe said mining in Africa should now be geared towards domestic development in pursuit of sustainable social investment.

He urged foreign investors to play their part by working on mutually beneficial partnerships with African states. Ends