Following days of protest in Silobela, Carolina against mines in the area allegedly not doing enough to employ and uplift the community, a preliminary agreement was finally reached with five mines recently.
According to Jerry Wandile Masina, a member of the task team appointed to represent the community, a meeting was held at the Albert Luthuli municipal offices last week where representatives of the five mines that attended disclosed various positions available for which they would gladly give preference to locals who qualify for those positions with December being the deadline.
Mr Masina said the agreements include a total of 75 positions where locals would be prioritised; business for local transport to ferry mine employees to and from work; and an office to run a skills and development centre supported by the mines where the youth and other members of the community would be trained.
According to Mr Masina, the feedback to the community was met with mixed reactions, as this was not the first time such agreements had been reached, but in the past not adhered to.
“Some people are happy that there is a bit of progress and others would rather wait and see what comes of the agreement,”he said.
Mr Masina added that the situation is now calm as they wait for the mines to make good on their promise. However, as a task team, they are concerned about three of their members were arrested days ago and still not charged, while others fled town as there are rumours about them being on the police’s wanted list. He also said they welcomed the release of their eight members. The police could neither confirm nor deny the information as it was still under investigation.
When asked about the two trucks, one completely burnt and the trailer of another burnt, he said they distanced themselves from the allegations and said the police would have to do their job and catch the perpetrators.
Silobela was on fire recently when tyres and branches were burned and roads barricaded amid hours of a stand-off between angry members of the community and the police, which affected schools and businesses. Three foreign-owned shops were also reportedly looted during the riots and a police van was stoned with the officer at the wheel resorting to firing warning shots to disperse the crowd.
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