We will die for our land, say angry
As traditional leaders clash and the government weighs a new application for titanium mining rights on the scenic Wild Coast, anti-mining locals report a fresh outbreak of violent intimidation
Christmas 2015 was a far from festive period for Kaizana Mbele* and his heavily pregnant wife. After repeated incidents of violence and intimidation in their remote Wild Coast village of Mdatya in late December, they ran for their lives.
Delivered by Kaizana himself, the baby was born on January 1 in a nearby forest. “My wife had complications and the baby is not doing well,” he told amaBhungane.
The terror spree started on December 19 when armed men parked their car away from the village, turned off the lights and came looking for the headwoman, Cynthia Duduzile Baleni. After failing to find her, they fired volleys into the air and drove away. The next night they returned and repeated the performance.
Eight days later, three villagers were ambushed by men wielding knobkerries and bush knives. One suffered a broken arm and a deep gash to the head; another was admitted to hospital with a broken leg.
Then, between midnight and 2am on December 30, an armed group went from house to house banging on doors, calling for certain individuals and firing guns.
Fear still reigns: a month later some villagers and their children continue to sleep in the forest or the nearby mealie fields.
Behind the violent outbreak lies a decade-long battle over whether dune mining should take place on this ecologically sensitive stretch of coastline.
Baleni has been the ceremonial mouthpiece for the anti-mining resolutions of five coastal villages most affected by the Xolobeni Mineral Sands project. The ambush victims were allegedly leading anti-mining activists.
Reacting to the violence, the Pondo queen, MaSobhuza Sigcau, called an imbizo at Komkhulu (the Great Place) last month. About 500 people from the Amadiba region, which includes the Xolobeni, Mdatya, Mtolani and Sigidi villages, attended the gathering, which amaBhungane witnessed.
The politically charged atmosphere was clear — before the imbizo started, women led a struggle song, Noma kubi siyaya: No matter how hard it is/ We will succeed. Then came the chant and response: “Amandla! Ngawethu [Power is ours]!”
Most had walked many kilometres to attend the meeting, which took place in the open because the hall could not hold them all. The elderly and middle-aged outnumbered the young people in attendance; chairing the meeting was the 75-year-old Mdatya leader, Zadla Dlamini.
Metres away lay the Wild Coast. The slope to the sea is forested with wild fruit trees; fields of green mealies fill the valleys.
The women seemed to be at the forefront of the anti-mining campaign; whenever one spoke, the crowd clapped and ululated.
The speeches were angry. Said one of the elders: “These gangsters used to be good children before they were offered money.” Another added: “They will kill us first before they start mining. We are Pondo; we are prepared to die for our land. Even in the past, our ancestors chose land and ignored a bag of money they had been offered for this same land.”
A woman said: “My tears won’t fall on the ground for nothing. You can bring your machine guns. I am prepared to die for my land; I am not going anywhere.”
Afterwards, the older residents eagerly gathered to talk to Amadiba Crisis Committee secretary Nonhle Mbuthuma. Not a single voice spoke up for dune mining at Xolobeni.
Mbuthuma said the police were invited to the imbizo but failed to appear. Instead, at 4am the previous night they launched the largest operation in local memory, raiding two villages for firearms.
Villagers told the imbizo that the police officers barged into their houses without warrants but failed to find guns or other dangerous weapons.
It is an allegation that Brigadier Mtutuzeli Mtukushe, cluster commander of the stations in Mbizana, Ntabankulu and Mount Ayliff, denies. “One firearm with ammunition was found and some dangerous weapons. We also found lots of dagga plants.” The raids were a routine crime prevention operation and warrants were used, he said.
He insisted police do not take sides in local quarrels, because it is difficult to separate victim from perpetrator.
In one respect police action has met with the crisis committee’s approval — four men, Xolile Dimane, Thembile Ndovela, Mdlele Bhele and Mto Bhele, were arrested and charged with attempted murder in connection with the December violence.
Anti-mining activists claim that two of the most prominent local mining advocates, Zamile Qunya and Amadiba chief Lunga Baleni, appeared at the police station an hour after the arrests in a bid to bail out the suspects.
Qunya is the f ounder of the Xolobeni Empowerment Company (Xolco), the empowerment part-