Deputy Speaker, I have two things to say to the opposition: Firstly, we have debated this Bill for a very long time in the committee. Now, I am not surprised that other members of the opposition are raising the issues they are raising because they were not part of the deliberations. [Interjections.] Ordinarily, I would not expect them to understand what we are taking about.
Secondly, there is confusion in the DA. It seeks to represent certain sectors of blacks or Africans in this country, while at the same time they want to put the market on top of those people. They are saying to us in this House today that we should pass a Bill that will promote the interest of the market as opposed to the interest of the people on the ground.
As the ANC, we are sure that today is the second last day of all of us here in this House. Before we go on to full-scale campaigning for the renewal of the mandate received from the masses of our people in 2009. As we prepare to head home to our various constituencies, we note that where we are headed there are many who still have no jobs, no houses and lack basic amenities.
To some of us in this august House, some of the questions may be what we already have contended with in previous encounters with our people. We went door to door loud-hailing and engaged in stop-and-goes in order to explain to our people what the ANC has been doing in the Fourth Parliament.
We have outlined our successes, but we have also indicated where we could not perform well and gave reasons why. We told our people that there is a lot that still needs to be done and that the ANC requests our people not to lose hope. We have indicated to our people that they must advise us on where they believe improvement on our approach is needed and where they believe we need to change all together. This is because the ANC belongs to them and they must own it.
An overwhelming response that we received from the masses of our people is that they were inspired by your acknowledgement that there is much that still needs to be done, but are more than impressed by the good story the ANC is telling. I have been inspired by the welcoming mood of the people of our country and today again I am proud to be standing here to help continue telling a good story like the Minister has done. [Applause.]
Let me now speak about the debate and help to clarify to our people what the opposition in and outside of this House knows about the evolution of the mining industry in this country. This I must do because they will deliberately mislead our people with an intention to bankroll them into the coffers of visionless theories and ideologies.
Mining in South Africa creates over 500 000 direct jobs. It accounts for 18% of total national investment. It is responsible for well over 90% electricity generation and accounts for a third of the value of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. I want us to determine if the latter points to instability or informs us of a stable industry that needs to be nurtured and used to develop the lives of the people of this country. The overall production of South Africa's mining industry recorded a growth of 12% by the end of 2013. Relative to the preceding here which reaffirms that government-led interventions including implementation of the Deputy President's Framework Agreement for a Sustainable Mining Industry in our country, in conjunction with key stakeholders in business and organised labour, have brought about restoration of stability and peace within the mining industry.
It is important that we note and always remember that, as we debate this matter today, the current labour instability is limited only to three platinum group metals, PGM, producing companies and should therefore not be misconstrued for being reflective of instability in the entire mining industry. In the three PGM producing companies, we are sure and confident that enduring solutions are imminent.
Let me rewind our thoughts for a while and take you back down memory lane. In 2002 when the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Amendment Bill was considered before Parliament, prophets of doom from the unpatriotic and cold opposition benches projected and insinuated that the Act will deter investment and mark the beginning of a short journey to the end of the mining industry.
They painted a picture of imminent volatility in the industry and projected the ANC-led alliance as a bunch of unwilling and uninterested visionless leaders who were hellbent on destroying the economy of the country. Remember that at that time the former President, Thabo Mbeki, was in charge when all this was said. Some of the members who are sitting on the left- hand side today were members of the ANC and were serving in this Parliament and were part of Cabinet. By then members of opposition parties opposed the Bill from all angles and brandished South Africa as a country in tears as a result of the ANC. Fast forward to 2004, the former presidents of the ANC were, according to Helen Zille and hon Lekota, who, by the way, are now in agreement with us today, the best - it is only the current President who is not the best.
Now, at that time they could have been members of the ANC, we may not know. That is why today their campaign slogan is that the ANC was better all along, it is not better now. Members of the ANC who are representing those who are outside know that every leader of the ANC has been better and that Jacob Zuma continues to lead the country on the correct path. [Applause.]
Empirical evidence, as opposed to rhetoric, points to the democratic government of the people of South Africa having created a predictable regulatory framework which is in sync with the dynamic socioeconomic and political landscape of our country as well as such international conventions as resolution 1803 of the United Nations of 1962.
An exposed analysis of the mining industry reveals that the latter has resulted in the following milestones: vested custodianship mineral rights to the state in order to, among others, facilitate an orderly development of the country's national resources and enable equitable access, especially for the historically disadvantaged South Africans; gross fixed capital formation has increased significantly under the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Amendment Bill from R18 billion in 2004 to R75 000 billion in 2012; foreign direct investment grew exponentially from R112 billion to R389 billion from 2004 to 2012 - if you need to verify this information you can go to the SA Reserve Bank; employment grew from approximately 448 909 in 2004 to 518 214 in 2012; gross sales of primary minerals have appreciated from R98,5 billion in 2000 to R379,7 billion in 2012, whilst the number of operating mines has increased from 993 in 2004 to 1579 in 2012. Now this is a good story I am talking about.
The people of this country want to hear this good story and you members of the opposition do not want them to hear it. The truth is that somebody should be in charge of such a viable and success-oriented sector aimed at national development. We are presenting to Parliament an Act that entrusts the Minister with the duty to regulate South Africa's mining, minerals and upstream petroleum industry through the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Amendment Bill.
The Act affords guided discretionary powers within the confines of the law to ensure the achievement of its object. There is no legislation in South Africa in particular and elsewhere in the world that does not confer a degree of discretion to the regulator to ensure the realisation of the objects of such legislation. Thank you, hon Speaker. [Applause.]