Court rules in favour of Xolobeni residents opposing wild coast mining

The High Court in Pretoria has just ruled in favour of the Xolobeni residents opposing mining on the Wild Coast.

The court ruled in favour of the residents in that the proposed mining on their land would not go ahead without their consent.

Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe and Australian firm Transworld Energy and Minerals were ordered to pay legal costs to the case.

The court ruled that the minister and the Australian firm would have to obtain full and formal consent from the Xolobeni community prior to granting mining rights.

The Xolobeni community has the #Right2SayNo to mining.

The Tshwane High Court says the Community has the right to full and informed consent before a mining right is granted over their ancestral land. With costs. pic.twitter.com/dnLCLv66DH

— Johan Lorenzen (@JohanLorenzen) November 22, 2018

“It is declared that the first respondent lacks any lawful authority to grant mining right to the fifth respondent in terms of section 23, read with section 22 of the Mineral Petroleum Resources Development Act 28 of 2002, unless the first, sixth and seventh respondents had complied with provisions of the Interim Protection of Informal Rights to Land Act 31 of 1996.”

The community wanted to assert the right of indigenous communities to have control over their land and their future. They wanted the right to say no to mining.

The application for mining has been on the cards for years but was strongly opposed by locals and environmentalists.

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