A meeting between the community and Ken Smith from uKhozi Enviornmentalist (Pty) Ltd who is the facilitator of the proposed Welgedacht coal railway siding did not end well.
The meeting was held on June 4, at Olympia Park School, with the intention of presenting information about the siding to affected residents.
However, what should have been a consultation and public participation process on the proposed siding, turned into a discussion about residents’ dissatisfaction about the proposed opencast coal mine which is set to open 1.9km from the siding.
The siding in question will be located on portion 30 of the farm Geigerle 238IR, which forms part of the Welgedacht marshalling yard.
The land is zoned for transport as it is on Transnet Rail property.
The proposed mine may be located on portions 21 and 22 of the farm Grootvaly, now known as Ukufisa Colliery, which borders the Blesbokspruit and is within 1km of Strubenvale, Grootvaly Agricultural Holdings, Aston Lake, Bakerton and Welgedacht.
Coal will be transported by truck from the mine to the siding where it will be stockpiled, with an average of 10 000 tonnes being stored there at any given time, before it is loaded onto train wagons and transported approximately 80km to Eskom Grootvlei Power Station.
The siding will be used for seven years and will create 15 jobs.
The existing road from Welgedacht Railway Yard to Ukufisa Colliery will be upgraded and increased from 6m to 10m in width.
Comments
It was clear that the community members present were not keen on the opencast coal mine and representatives did not have answers to their questions.
It came as a shock to everyone when Kobus Rothman, representative of Steynol (Pty) Ltd, announced government had approved the mine the day prior to the meeting.
Lawyer Philip de Jager, of De Jager Kruger Van Blerk, said they have never seen a copy of the actual mining rights and the situation is a tactic as Steynol have only done specialist reports.
He comments that residents objected to the opencast mine in July 2010 and again in March 2012.
In May they received notice of the proposal to build the siding.
When they received no response he said they believed “the application had died a natural death or been declined”.
He added the coal mine is going to be on the banks of the Blesbokspruit and it is not acceptable as it will affect the environment as well as the people’s livestock.
Smith was clearly not prepared for what the people had to say and neither was Rothman, neither of whom could answer the questions put to them.
Instead Smith reminded everyone about the actual purpose of the meeting – a presentation on the siding depot.
But the community was not interested and made it very clear that a meeting needs to be scheduled to discuss the impact of the coal mine, before they will even consider looking at a presentation of the siding in Welgedacht.
Ken said they will take the community’s concerns and questions to their superiors and all the people present, including the Addie, will receive an email to inform them when the next meeting will take place.
