Residents of Old Coronation and Lekazi decided to hand over a memorandum to the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) in what they termed as unfair treatment by a mine which wants to mine in their area.
They handed over the memorandum on Wednesday, September 2.
The residents said they cannot understand how the mine got a licence from the Department of Mineral Resources as it is required by law to mine in their area without proper consultations and process followed.
The residents claimed that they have occupied the area for many years and it has been serviced by Emalahleni Municipality for many years.
They believe that proper consultations or consent need to take place before any mining can take place.
“The mining companies did not consult with our community leaders and did not include any community social plan as it is the norm. Negotiations about skills development, education, labour plan and about the employment of members from the community and on what the benefits the community will have. We were not consulted by DMR or the city council through our city councillor or the holder of the prospecting right nor the mining permit holders. We have not seen the EMP’s or the application documents,” reads part of the memorandum.
The residents further said that they have not seen the survey plans under section 2.2 of the area signed by DMR and a land surveyor.
They also want to know about who signed for the authorising of the mining to take place or the application forms.
The residents also want to see the financial and competence document.
They want to see all those documents and the timeline of mining in their area.
They want to know about the risk assessments involving community members and their stocks.
They also want proof that any damage to their property will be covered by a surety bond in their favour.
“We want a study plan and plans to show that applications have done due diligence on the risk of sink holes forming through their action on the land we occupy. Show us the timeline that you’re going to enforce to ensure rehabilitation is immediate and that DMR is not going to allow the mining company to destroy the land without any financial guarantees in place to cover every possible eventuality regarding environmental pollution as well as rehabilitation to pre-mining conditions. We want to study plans and the risks of sickness forming through their action on the land we occupy. We want financial guarantees in favour of the community concerning injuries, accidents, sickness in involving everyone residing in the communities caused by latent dust, lung problems caused by fire, psychological problems caused by noise pollution and by not keeping cycle sleep due to the continued operations of the mining equipment”.
The community wants the DMR to withdraw all approval until it can prove to the community that mining in these portions have been taken into account and have to place full guarantee to rehabilitate and repair damage caused to the land they occupy as well as the ancillary infrastructure such as the Verena road, gas pipelines, the Paxton road, Eskom power lines, Telkom lines, Emalahleni waste and water supply pipelines.
The community members said that they were assured by the DMR that they will receive a response to the memorandum before September 10.
