North West good for beneficiation - committee

Cape Town - Local beneficiation could be meaningful in the North West as the province is among the richest in the country, chairperson of Parliament's Select Committee on Trade and International Relations Edwin Makue said on Monday.

“The country should look to industrialise the province at a rapid pace that will benefit rural and urban areas, in line with government policy requirements as contained in the National Development Plan (NDP) and the New Growth Path (NGP),” said Makue.

“As we look to industrialise, this is where South Africa should start. There is potential. Development should not be synonymous with urban and developed areas. The country should be able to filter through benefits to the most rural and destitute places.”

The committee is on a week-long oversight visit to the North West to assess opportunities and shortcomings in implementing national programmes of government and addressing key priorities as articulated in NDP particularly in Moses Kotane District Municipality.

Makue said the committee will also track progress on various initiatives of leveraging employment creation and export earnings from beneficiating locally mined minerals, tourism development and agro-processing.

“The North West should be a good story to tell and that task could not be relegated to national government alone,” he said.