Residents demand more from mines in their towns

People living in mining-affected communities are demanding that government ensures they benefit meaningfully from mines established where they live.

The residents recently gathered at a summit hosted by the Mining Affected Communities United in Action (Macua) in Pretoria.

The inaugural summit, attended by about 200 people, coincides with the Mining Indaba in Cape Town this week. This, according to Macua’s national coordinator Meshack Mbangula, was no coincidence.

“While government is busy engaging only with business people about mining, the very communities that are affected by mining activities have been left out.

“So we are holding this summit to create a platform for communities to voice and discuss the issues they face.”

Mbangula said he hoped Macua would not only be invited to attend the Mining Indaba, but included in the organising processes to ensure there was a platform for communities to engage with mining companies and government.

Attendees from across the country lamented the failure of mining companies to develop communities and to create better employment opportunities. In so doing, attendees say, this is a failure to implement the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act.

One of the aims of this Act, which came into effect in 2004, was to secure the uplifting of communities located near mines. Nthabiseng Mahlumba from Virginia in the Free State, said her community had barely anything to show, despite several mines operating there. The few programmes in the gold mining town are not very accessible to most residents. “Virginia is surrounded by many mines but it is one of the poorest areas in the country,” she said, adding their high unemployment rate was frustrating to residents, who are also bearing the brunt of the mines’ environmental degradation. Attendees from other such communities also voiced similar challenges.

Activist Yolanda Dyantyi, who spoke during a panel discussion, comes from Guba Hoek – a rural coal mining community which has only one “dilapidated high school” . It is in Indwe where the Molteno-Indwe coal field is situated.

Other issues discussed included how women and children were most affected by the issues in mining-affected communities. These include a lack of prioritising women in social and labour plans.

Rebecca Selomo from Mogalakwena in Limpopo said it was important for spaces such as the summit to be used to discuss strategies for all those affected by mining to tackle challenges they face.

“We need to understand the power that we have in making sure that our issues are addressed,” she said.

Virginia is surrounded by mines but is one of the poorest areas