Minister rules North West mining operation’s authority is ‘flawed’

Monwabsi Nzala and other community members from Mononono village in North West are excited after it was established that a mining operation in their area did not follow due process in obtaining its integrated environmental authorisation (EA).

In 2022, Ikwezi Vanadium (Pty) Ltd applied for an EA but the community claims it was not consulted.

Authorisation was improperly granted

With the assistance of the Mining Affected Communities United in Action (Macua) group, they approached the ministry of forestry, fisheries and the environment (DFFE) to appeal the decision.

DFFE minister Dr Dion George ruled that authorisation was improperly granted and ordered the mining firm to consult the community as required by law.

“We are excited that finally we have won the case against the problematic mining company that has caused a lot of suffering in our community,” said Nzala.

“These people have damaged a huge part of the land in our area.

“As they were mining they did not bother to rehabilitate the area, but moved to another area which is even a problem because livestock were falling into sinkholes that were left uncovered.”

“Last year, community members rescued two boys who were trapped inside a sinkhole full of water. Much as we are happy that we successfully appealed against the EA, we also want the authorities to compel the mining company to rehabilitate our land.”

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Mine insists in consulted community

However, Lenin Ngwenya, stakeholder relations superintendent for Ikwezi Vanadium (Pty) Ltd, said: “It is incorrect that the previous prospecting and bulk sampling activities were conducted without the consultation from Mononono community, among other communities.

“The consultations were done for the prospecting and bulk sampling phases and this dates back to 2010, which led to the grant of the said permissions by the MDRE.”

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