Pretoria: The Cabinet has given the green light for the publication of the draft Strategic Petroleum Stocks Policy, inviting public comment, Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni announced on Friday. This move is part of the government's strategy to enhance South Africa's energy security and mitigate the economic impacts of potential supply disruptions.

According to South African Government News Agency, Minister Ntshavheni highlighted that the policy is the result of a comprehensive study conducted in 2024, which assessed the country's strategic petroleum reserves. The study pinpointed critical areas needing improvement, such as bolstering stockholding arrangements and expanding domestic refining capabilities.

The proposed policy introduces a mixed stockholding model. Under this framework, the South African National Petroleum Company (SANPC) is tasked with maintaining strategic reserves of crude oil and refined petroleum products equivalent to 60 days of net imports. This reserve is set to gradually increase to 90 days over time, aiming to safeguard national energy security, enhance resilience against global supply shocks, and underpin sustainable economic growth.

In addition to the petroleum policy, the Cabinet has also approved the Integrated Social Facilitation Framework (ISFF), a national policy tool designed to standardize and institutionalize community engagement in infrastructure projects. This framework seeks to address issues such as community protests, project disruptions, vandalism, and delays by fostering structured community participation throughout the infrastructure project lifecycle. The goal is to strengthen public trust, social cohesion, and protect infrastructure investments.

The ISFF promotes a professionalized and coordinated approach to social facilitation, which includes accrediting social facilitators, establishing clearer governance structures, enhancing monitoring and evaluation, and adopting a risk-based strategy to manage community-related risks.

Furthermore, the Cabinet sanctioned the release of the Science, Technology and Innovation Funding Report for public comment. This report underscores the importance of reducing South Africa's dependency on foreign funding and building local funding capacity to protect the nation's research initiatives and ensure South Africa's scientific autonomy.