THE latest development in the saga of Ibutho Coal’s proposed Fuleni Anthracite Mine has sparked outrage among affected community members whose homes have been ‘branded’ as they are ordered to move out and make way for the mine.
Despite the Department of Mineral Resources’ (DMR) rejection of Ibutho Coal’s final scoping report and the amended report also coming under fire from critics, Ibutho Coal representatives spent last Tuesday attaching stickers to homes set to be demolished to make way for the mine.
Kirsten Youens of Youens Attorneys, acting on behalf of the Global Environmental Trust (GET) to contest Ibutho Coal’s application for a mining right, said in a letter to the DMR: ‘This approach is highly irregular and contrary to the requirements of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act of 2003, the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act of 2000, as well as contrary to the Bill of Rights as set out in the Constitution’.
Youens’ letter goes on to say that interested and affected parties as well as affected communities and the landowner, Ingonyama Trust Board (ITB), have not been through a thorough consultative process by Ibutho Coal.
According to Youens, the consultation process in this matter has been ‘fatally flawed and, legally, should not have got to the current status with such ease’.
‘What [Ibutho Coal] is doing is acting as though its obtaining mining rights over the Fuleni Reserve is a foregone conclusion and that any consultation with the community is not necessary,’ said Youens.
She has called on the department to instruct Ibutho Coal to cease earmarking houses for demolition, properly consult with affected communities and provide proof of consultation with ITB.
Sheila Berry, spokesperson for GET, Save our Wilderness (SOW) and Community and Wilderness Alliance (CAWA), is ‘shocked and outraged’ by this latest development.
Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife echoes her sentiments. @TamlynJolly
