‘Diamond rush’ should be an eye-opener

THE geology experts' report which revealed that the stones being mined at KwaHlathi near Ladysmith were not diamonds has left the community and the entire KwaZulu-Natal devastated.

However, the incident has helped to shine the spotlight on the need for the government to attend to the social ills of poverty, youth unemployment and hopelessness facing rural communities in KwaZulu-Natal and across the country.

An intergovernmental team, led by MECs from the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government and officials from the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, released the findings on Sunday. The report showed that the stones were not diamonds but quartz crystals.

Delivering the bad news, the MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs, Ravi Pillay, told the media that the miners should vacate the site as their activities were damaging to the environment. Pillay also warned that the miners were not observing Covid-19 regulations.

It's not a bad idea to focus on rehabilitating the damaged land, but we hope that Pillay will also implement programmes that seek to alleviate poverty and create employment opportunities for the impoverished community that rushed to the area.

What the people of KwaHlathi and nearby communities need is not diamonds but job opportunities to provide for their families. It is not spending the chilly winter night in an open field that they find attractive, but an opportunity to learn new skills to open their own businesses.

The manner in which the community rose to the challenge of digging for what they thought were diamonds is a clear demonstration that these are not people waiting for handouts. These are men, women and children who are prepared to get their hands dirty to improve their lives. It is time for the government to come to the party and deliver tangible programmes that will empower the poor in rural and urban areas.

It should be remembered that similar scenes played out in 2019 when residents of KwaMachi, near Harding on the KZN South Coast, thought they had discovered gold in the area. After the geologist reported that the metal discovered was not gold, the area was fenced off and the community was left to fend for itself.

We hope this time things will be different and that the government will finally listen to what is essentially a people's cry for help.