Mining opponents harassed in South Africa

COMMUNITY activists who oppose mining projects in South Africa are often harassed, threatened and sometimes killed, according to a report by advocacy groups including Human Rights Watch (HRW).

While South Africa has one of the world’s biggest mining industries, the activities of companies extracting metals and minerals ranging from platinum to coal have often run afoul of communities because of the impact they have on land use ranging from traditional burial grounds to grazing land.

At the same time, projects often divide communities as they also bring jobs and other opportunities.

Municipalities frequently block attempts by communities to protest against projects by using reasons that have no basis in law, HRW said yesterday in a report titled “We Know Our Lives Are in Danger”, which it prepared with groundWork, Earthjustice and the Centre for Environmental Rights.

Peaceful demonstrations are often violently broken up by police, it said.

There are “threats to personal security of community-rights defenders and environmental groups, restrictive interpretation of protest laws, police violence and harassment” through legal filings or social-media campaigns.

These have “contributed to an environment of fear in some mining-affected communities”.

The report documents threats and attacks in four provinces between 2013 and 2018 and shows their origins are often unknown, though activists believe they were initiated by the police, government officials, private security companies or other groups acting on behalf of mining companies.

The report makes reference to the March 2016 murder of Sikhosiphi Rhadebe, chairman of a community-based organisation opposing mineral-sands mining by Mineral Commodities Ltd in Xolobeni, in the Eastern Cape.

To date, no suspects in his killing have been identified.