Jubilation as mining communities get a say
THERE were celebrations at the High Court in Pretoria yesterday after a ruling compelled the government and the Chamber of Mines to involve communities living in mining areas in the ongoing discussions over the controversial Mining Charter.
Judge President Dunstan Mlambo ordered that the mining communities be recognised as “interested and relevant stakeholders for the purpose of consultation on the charter formulation process”.
Soon after the court judgement, the Mining Affected Communities United in Action (Macua) pressure group’s national organiser, Meshack Mbangula, said the court ruling was a significant victory for the communities.
“They (the high court) gave an order to say we must be consulted, we must be part of the decision making. We are happy that we have an order, if the DMR (Department of Mineral Resources) doesn’t comply, we would definitely be able to take them to court and make sure that they comply, and make our people benefit from that,” said Mbangula.
“The charter must reflect what people want, not what (mining) companies want. Everybody is happy, singing, and that is the victory. We will definitely make copies to give to them. In all the eight provinces that are affected by mines. We’ve forced this to happen!”
Hundreds of Macua members were gathered outside court yesterday, protesting against what they termed was “persistent exclusion” from talks on the latest iteration of the Mining Charter.
A court battle between the government and the SA Chamber of Mines, scheduled to play out in the high court yesterday, has been put on hold after President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office and the Chamber of Mines said on Sunday they would be negotiating out of court to resolve the row over the blueprint.
Macua complained they were not included in this process and called for the case to proceed urgently. – African News Agency (ANA)