Xolobeni saga: MEC enters fray
Mabuyane feels state could have handled issue differently to avoid split
It was divisive for the state not to conduct proper consultations with the community of Xolobeni, environmental affairs & tourism MEC Oscar Mabuyane said last week.
He said the rural community could miss out on becoming another Richards Bay if the state did not invest in well trained social facilitators to clear the air on the spin-offs of having a titanium mine on its doorstep.
Mabuyane was referring to judge Anneli Basson’s landmark ruling in the North Gauteng High Court last month that the department of mineral resources (as represented by Minister Gwede Mantashe) must go beyond consultation and secure the full and informed consent of the holders of rights in the land before granting mining rights to Transworld Energy and Mineral Resources (TEM), part of global mining conglomerate Mineral Commodities (MCR).
The community of Xolobeni has been engaged in a protracted battle for years to stop Mantashe from granting the Australian company rights to extract titanium from their land without proper consent.
On one side is the Nonhle Mbuthuma-led Amadiba Crisis Committee (ACC), which fears the community would lose everything should a foreign company be allowed to start mining on their ancestral land.
On the other is a pro-mining faction led by the likes of Zamile Madiba Qunya, who believes the court ruling will allow space for Xolobeni residents to freely state they want the mining of titanium in their land.
Mabuyane said to make this mineral-rich part of the Eastern Cape a thriving mining town such as Richards Bay, proper consultations had to be started from scratch in order to get buyin from residents of the affected villages.
Mabuyane said: “We must have strong social facilitators so that we do not experience what we experienced in Xolobeni. “It’s very important, that mining project. But it is not going to realise its true potential if people have mixed feelings about it because it was introduced to local people poorly and then it divided our people right from the start.”
Although the entire Mbizana village celebrated the victory, residents are divided between those who want the mining to continue and those who don’t.
“We can use the same model that is being used in Richards Bay; never mind that here we want to mine titanium and there it is coal. We can deal with this mining project so that it is sustainable.
“You can easily have mining but at the same time promote tourism. It is important to mobilise communities towards this vision. The province must move forward,” he said.