Gwede Mantashe

GWEDE Mantashe again unsettled parts of the mining and business community in 2025 as his blunt public style and hard-line policy stance reignited concerns about regulatory certainty. He opened the year on a combative note, criticising the US government over the withdrawal of Pepfar (AIDS relief) funding, and floating the idea that South Africa could reconsider its supply of critical minerals, remarks made during a media address at an investor conference in February last year.

Several months later, Mantashe released the country’s Critical Minerals and Metals Strategy alongside draft amendments to the Mineral Resources Development Act for public comment. He framed the proposals as a bid to strengthen policy and regulatory certainty and boost investor confidence. Industry bodies, however, warned that the empowerment provisions and broad ministerial discretion risked undermining those objectives. Friction intensified at the Minerals Council AGM later that month, where the council argued that the draft legislation failed to reflect industry input. Council president Paul Dunne signalled that the bill could be challenged in court. Mantashe responded by cautioning against what he termed “subtle attacks”, saying some submissions would be accommodated while others would be “fought out”; he acknowledged that legal action was likely.

Tensions surfaced again in August when Mantashe clashed publicly with former Sibanye-Stillwater CEO Neal Froneman over a business-led proposal to position South Africa as a gateway for US access to African critical minerals. Mantashe rejected the initiative, saying it had been developed without consultation. He stressed that government wanted a critical-minerals strategy “for everyone”, not one tailored to a single country.