It is with a great sense of joy and purpose that I join you at this important Women in Minerals Leadership Engagement. I am particularly pleased to see in this room distinguished women who are actively contributing to and shaping the future of the South African mining industry. We must be clear, that these women were not done a favour.
Speaking Notes by the Honourable, Deputy Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources, Ms Phumzile Mgcina
Women in Minerals Leadership Engagement
Melrose Arch
27 August 2026
Programme Director,
Mintek Group CFO, Ms Thembelihle Mbatha,
Distinguished Guests,
It is with a great sense of joy and purpose that I join you at this important Women in Minerals Leadership Engagement.
I am particularly pleased to see in this room distinguished women who are actively contributing to and shaping the future of the South African mining industry.
We must be clear, that these women were not done a favour.
You are here because, you are capable leaders, professionals, entrepreneurs, and decision-makers who have earned your place and are making a meaningful contribution to our economy and our country.
This is particularly significant when we consider where our country comes from.
The fact remains that, although South Africa has been a mining nation for more than a century, for much of our history, women were prohibited by law from working in the mining industry.
At the same time, the black majority, whose livelihoods had historically been rooted in agriculture, was systematically dispossessed and economically marginalised. Many were forced into the migrant labour system that sustained the mining industry.
Even those who were permitted to work in the mines faced profound discrimination.
Black mineworkers were denied opportunities to progress in the industry.
The communities in which mining took place were excluded from the value generated by the mineral wealth beneath their feet. Our minerals were extracted and exported in raw form to be beneficiated elsewhere.
This was the painful reality of South Africa, and of the South African mining industry.
However, our history is also a story of courage, resistance, and resilience.
Recognising the injustice upon the people of South Africa, distinguished women such as Lilian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, Rahima Moosa, and Sophia Williams-De Bruyn, together with thousands of other courageous women, took to the streets to challenge the apartheid regime.
United in their demand for human rights, gender equality, and social justice, in August 1956, they marched to the Union Buildings under the powerful banner: “Wathint’Abafazi, Wathint’Imbokodo”.
It is, therefore, fitting that we meet today - not simply as women, but as senior government officials, industry executives, investors, and professionals - to reflect on how far we have come, and more importantly, how much further we still need to go.
This is not a matter of choice, but an obligation on all of us to ensure that the sacrifices of the 1956 generation were not made in vain.
When we speak about women empowerment and transformation, we must remember that these are not new demands. They are part of the unfinished work of the women of 1956.
We are, therefore, encouraged by the progress that has been made in transforming our mining industry.
From an industry in which women were once prohibited from working underground, we now have more than 78 000 women actively participating in core mining activities, including exploration, mining, and mineral processing.
Some of these women, are in this room today. I must say that we are proud of you.
We are proud of your achievements, your resilience, and your contribution to the transformation of our industry.
However, your success must not end with you.
We now rely on you to open doors for the next generation of women. We rely on you to mentor, sponsor, and develop young women so that many more can find their place in this industry.
The responsibility for transformation cannot rest with government alone.
It is a shared responsibility – one that must be carried by all social partners in the South African mining industry: government, business, labour, and communities.
We must work together to create an industry in which women are not simply participants, but leaders; not simply employees, but owners, entrepreneurs, investors, innovators, and decision-makers.
For its part, government remains firmly committed to ensuring that historically disadvantaged persons, particularly women and the youth, participate meaningfully in the mainstream economy.
It is within this context that we continue to advance programmes such as the Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining, as well as the Junior Mining Exploration Fund (JMEF).
Since the establishment of the R400 million JMEF to address the challenge of access to funding for early-stage exploration, at least 13 projects are now benefitting from the fund.
We are encouraged that women-led projects are among those benefitting from this fund.
Through the Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining Fund, we also continue to provide financial support to qualifying beneficiaries, thus contributing to government’s broader efforts to expand opportunities for historically disadvantaged South Africans.
At least 20 artisanal and small-scale mining projects were supported through the 2025/26 financial year allocation of R59.7 million. A further R31.12 million from the Department’s allocation for the current financial year has been set aside to expand this programme.
We are also working on partnership mechanisms with the Department of Small Business Development to strengthen support for artisanal and small-scale miners, with the objective of expanding both the reach and impact of this important programme.
Through these initiatives, we are moving beyond talking about empowerment and transformation. We are actively putting resources behind transformation.
Our regulatory framework, particularly the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA), while being refined to ensure that it remains fit-for-purpose, continues to provide an important foundation for the transformation of our mining the industry and the creation of opportunities for all South Africans.
As government, we remain committed to realising the enduring vision of the Freedom Charter that says: “the people shall share in the country’s wealth”.
This principle must find practical expression in the way we develop, beneficiate, and commercialise our mineral resources.
That is why we remain resolute in our efforts to drive mineral value addition closer to the point of production.
The fact remains that South Africa has the resources, the institutions, skills, and ingenuity required to make mineral beneficiation a reality.
Mintek is one such institution.
As business executives, leaders, and investors, we must strengthen our partnerships with research and development institutions such as Mintek to ensure that the minerals extracted from our soil are increasingly beneficiated here.
We cannot continue exporting the jobs, skills, technology, and wealth that should accrue to the people of South Africa.
We must move from an economy that primarily extracts and exports to one that extracts, processes, manufactures, and creates value here at home.
If we are serious about honouring the 1956 women generation, then this is the work we must undertake today.
We must ensure that women are at the centre of the mineral economy and ensure that the mineral wealth of our country becomes a source of prosperity, dignity, and opportunity for all South Africans.
As beneficiaries of the courage of the 1956 generation, we cannot fail them.
Let us leave this room not merely with good intentions, but with practical, implementable, and measurable recommendations.
Let us identify what each of us must do to further transform this industry and be accountable for delivering on those commitments.
I thank you.