Government is developing a draft policy on scrap metal that will protect the country’s electrical grid and rail network from the continued threat of scrap metal syndicates, says Trade, Industry and Competition, Minister Ebrahim Patel.

Delivering the Department’s 2022/23 Budget Vote, the Minister said this needed to be done if the country was to build an enabling environment for industrialisation.

By the end of July, he said, the draft policy would have been developed and tabled.

He said it would “introduce a blend of domestic and export measures to address illegal trading in copper cable and scrap metal”.

He said: “Energy and logistics is vital to the success of our industrialisation efforts. [Public Enterprises] Minister Pravin Gordhan and I have agreed to launch a forum to bring together Eskom, Transnet and other entities together with industrialists in key sectors to enhance collaboration, advanced planning and problem-solving”.

This, he said, would enable a better climate for investment and job creation,” he said.

DTIC entities have been given until December to have concrete measures to cut rate, streamline the processes and make them accessible and less onerous for entrepreneurs and citizens.

The Minister said the Department would shift from red tape to smart regulation that helps those who want to build and protect the system against those who seek to abuse it at the expense of the poor and the vulnerable.

“This work will also include a process to consolidate the sprawl of entities within our Ambit, creating a leaner and more responsive and relevant set of institutions,” he said.

The Minister said the country must continue to show resilience as it sought to be bold and de-risk the economy, “which is essential to our vision of a truly non-racial democratic society”.

Over the next 12 months, he said the country expected a number of “concrete actions”.

Source: South African Government News Agency