Residents near mines want a say in charter

South African mining communities will challenge the government’s Mining Charter and seek a court order to ensure they are involved in drafting any replacement.

About 150 community-based organisations and activists, represented by the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS), will apply to join an existing case brought by mining companies against the charter, the legal group stated.

CALS is also seeking a declaratory order that mining-affected communities “are recognised as a key stakeholder and must be meaningfully engaged when developing any new charter”.

The new Mining Charter, published in June and strongly opposed by the industry, puts extra levies on companies and increases black-empowerment requirements.

Mining Minister Mosebenzi Zwane has agreed not to implement the charter until there’s a judgment in the judicial review sought by Chamber of Mines, which represents mining companies. The review is scheduled to begin in December.

While there are some positive elements to the new charter, it was developed without engaging with the communities, CALS said.

“We are asking the court to allow us to intervene in the case and to set aside the current charter for this failure to meaningfully engage affected communities.

“Mining-affected communities continue to bear the greatest burdens of mining – losing farmland to mining operations, facing environmental harm and degradation and suffering from illnesses caused by pollution.”

Among the chamber’s concerns is that the charter seeks to establish a government-controlled fund to manage communities’ stakes in mines. It would receive payments the industry estimates could be R3.5 billion a year. –

Mining-affected communities bear the greatest burdens of mining.

Wits Centre for Applied Legal Studies