Illegal sand mine shut down near Umkomaas
Attempts to stop illegal sand mining at local rivers have failed over the years.
ILLEGAL sand mining continues to damage the river systems on the South Coast, and a sand mining operation was shut down near Umgababa recently after the intervention of the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy.
ALSO READ: Illegal mining continues despite department’s order to shut down operations
The illegal miners had set up on the northern bank of the Umkomazi River, extracting sand from the river without a permit. The same thing has also been occurring in the Illovo River as has been previously reported by the SUN.
In Umgababa, the uMnini Community Trust released a statement on Facebook, regarding the sand mining operation. The uMnini Community Trust was founded by Inkosi Phathisizwe Luthuli, the chief of Umgababa.
“As the uMnini Community Trust, we would like to thank the swift response of the Department of Minerals and Energy who intervened in this matter. The law enforcement officers of the department arrived and inspected the place that was used for illegal mining,” said the statement.
Dr Anthony Turton, Professor at the Centre for Environmental Management, said illegal sand mining is detrimental to the environment because most of the once free-flowing rivers in the province have been over-abstracted.
“Most have now become lagoons, choked by sand, only flowing into the ocean episodically after major flood events. Most rivers in the province are now nothing more than linear wetlands, with feeble baseflow and sub-surface streamflow along alluvial surface aquifers. This is not ecologically sustainable and is contrary to the intention of the National Water Act (NWA),” said Turton.
According to the uMnini Community Trust’s statement, the father and son who allegedly ran the mine were charged. The statement also requested that all similar incidents be reported to authorities.
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