Beware miners bearing gifts

Development, in a sustainable form, cannot come from outside

If the Xolobeni community in the Eastern Cape ever does free itself from the threat of mining, it could do worse than to establish an educational facility in the rolling hills that sweep down to a ridiculously beautiful, pristine, golden beach.

It would be an environmentally friendly facility, one that blends seamlessly into the surroundings and leaves not even a footprint when term is out.

The facility, which would be part of a larger tourism project, would deal with development economics. Teachers and students from across the globe would be given the opportunity to pay a small fortune to be taught about development from the perspective of the “developee”, as it were.

Decades ago I spent a year in Malaysia for my undergraduate thesis on development economics, so when I was invited to Xolobeni several years ago I felt sure I understood the issues.

That was before I met Nonhle Mbuthuma, spokesperson for the Amadiba Crisis Committee, which is driving the campaign to prevent mining. She upended most of what I’d learnt at university and forced a reset of the preconceived solutions that went with it.

Essentially, development, in a sustainable form, cannot come from outside. If it does, it’s inclined to look like colonialism. This is bad news for the mining industry, whose modus operandi involves scouring the globe for what it calls investable opportunities and pumping in whatever money is needed, including for local politicians, to extract the minerals we need to keep running our cellphones.

The problem is that the investable opportunities are always in someone’s backyard because land always belongs to someone, even if there’s no mortgage involved.

Mbuthuma and, as far as I could make out, the majority of the Xolobeni community, are not interested in the “development” that Australian miner Mineral Commodities Ltd (MRC) is desperate to impose upon them. Remarkably, MRC is continuing to peddle the 19th-century story that it comes with only good intentions and bearing gifts; the 21st-century equivalent of bright baubles are jobs.

One of MRC’S large Uk-based shareholders seemed utterly perplexed by the fuss Mbuthuma and her friends are making.

“As I understand it, the mining process here involves taking sand, filtering it with water and magnetism and then replacing the sand,” he said to a journalist. You can almost hear Lonmin’s Tiny Rowland explain to BJ Vorster how his platinum mine in Rustenburg will enhance the environment and the lives of the people of Marikana.

The reality is that local communities rarely, if ever, benefit from mining activity, which always leaves a mess and inevitably pits neighbours against each other.

There’s no doubt jobs are important. But at what price? Mbuthuma says the locals are not “money rich”, but are rich in natural resources and have access to arable land on which they grow what food they need. This will be put at risk. As will the enormous potential for eco-tourism, which has been put on hold because of fears the miners will eventually prevail.

The global development industry would do well to listen to the people of Xolobeni.

Investable opportunities are always in someone’s backyard because land always belongs to someone