Fearless granny Poppi takes on a mining giant
POPPI Djiana does not scare easily. Thunderstorms, veld fires, floods — the 76-year-old labour tenant has seen it all.
So when one of the world’s biggest mining companies threatened to blast the land out from beneath her feet, she saw no reason to panic.
But now the walls of Djiana’s mud-plaster home are coming down and the fiery matriarch is worried. Windows have cracked, the ceiling has collapsed, and a large yellow dust cloud sends her family scurrying for cover.
Mining giant Glencore is literally blasting a path to her door and wants her out of the way. But she and a small group of neighbours are sitting tight. For now.
“I’m scared that this house will fall on us one day. That day our bodies will be found under the rubble and it will be too late for the mine or anyone to do anything,” said Djiana on Friday.
Her house is among four still occupied after the mining company offered dozens of families alternative housing at Rockdale, 32km away.
Djiana, who has been on her 1 500m² patch of land since 1974, said the proposed settlement plan would not allow her family to keep farming.
“I’ve got five cows, 10 sheep and a number of chickens. Tell me, where are they going to graze when the new houses don’t have space for that?”
Besides, added Djiana: “All my children grew up here. My ancestors know I stay here and moving will cost me a lot.”
But Glencore insists it is doing its best, in accordance with its legal obligations.
The stand-off at Mooifontein outside Middelburg in Mpu- FALLING APART: Poppi Djiana outside her cracked house, the effects of mining blasts, in Mooifontein, Mpumalanga malanga is one of several disputes involving poor rural farmers and mining companies in the coal-rich province.
Glencore, which recently bought the Optimum coal mine at Mooifontein, is embroiled in at least two legal disputes involving the relocation of labour tenants.
Mining companies are obliged to provide alternative land for families living on land they want to mine, even if the families do not own the land. Access to land is protected in terms of the 1997 Extension of Security of Tenure Act.
The company has also offered the group alternative farm land, not far from Mooifontein.
But Djiana, in an affidavit to Richard Spoor Attorneys, who are preparing a court action on her behalf, claimed that the alternative farm land was un- acceptable — little more than a waterlogged wasteland. Not even the promise of a threebedroom home at Rockdale with “an inside toilet” would get her to move.
“The space is not big enough to build a barn, stables or a place to build a vegetable garden,” she said.
And the move would mean she would have to share a room with her 21-year-old grandson, which “Ndebele culture does not allow”.
Their rejection of the settlement offer had only made matters worse for the community, Djiana said in the statement: “Since then [the mining company] has been rapidly bringing its mining operations closer and closer to our homes and livestock, blasting sometimes twice a day, even on weekends, without adequate blasting protection or warnings.
“The consequence of this is that our homes are literally crumbling and shattering from the force of the blasts.”
The community’s lawyers insist that Glencore’s actions do not comply with the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation guidelines for community resettlements.
“We are at the point where we are going to take it to the Land Claims Court,” said Spoor.
“Glencore is saying: ‘If you don’t move and don’t take what we are offering then, well, toughies.’ We are saying: ‘No, you can’t leave us in this mess — this is an effective eviction.’ ”
Consulting attorney George Kahn said Glencore had to provide sustainable solutions for mining-affected communities: “If rural people want to remain rural, they must be allowed to do that. The case is not about securing prime land.”
Earlier this year, Glencore subsidiary Umcebo Mining filed court papers against another labour tenant, Springkaan Masango, living on land acquired by the company. The company wants Masango to reduce the size of his cattle herd to accommodate more resettled families. In a similar case, two families relocated from Glencore’s Klippan mine are disputing the grazing rights of their cattle.
Glencore spokesman Gugulethu Maqetuka said: “Optimum Coal Mine subscribes to the IFC Guidance Standard 5 on land acquisition and involuntary resettlement. We seek, therefore, to avoid resettlement wherever possible.
“However, when unavoidable, we adhere to the IFC standards, striving to improve the lives of the resettled community rather than mere restoration. We have been consulting with this community since 2005 and of the 69 families that resided on the property, 60 families have relocated.”
He said the tenants would be given ownership of their property, “which they did not previously enjoy”.
Maqetuka said the company was negotiating with the remaining families while houses for families electing for urban relocation had been built but remained unoccupied. “We remain committed to the process of engagement and in obtaining a positive conclusion for all parties,” he said.
I’m scared that this house will fall on us one day