Community wins mining rights case

MINERAL Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe may not issue mining rights without the consent of the Xolobeni community in the Eastern Cape, the North Gauteng High Court ruled yesterday.

The Amadiba Crisis Committee (ACC) has been demanding the courts grant them the power to refuse the right to extract titanium at the uMgungundlovu area on the Wild Coast.

ACC chairperson Sibusiso Madi said the judgment was a victory for the community of Xolobeni.

“It shows that our struggle was not in vain. The court validated what we have been saying all along. We have the right to say no, because we want to keep the land for future generations,” he said.

The Department of Mineral Resources said yesterday it had noted the judgment by Judge Annali Basson.

“The department is studying the judgment and will pronounce on the matter in due course,” it said.

The mining dispute dates back 12 years. The ACC – which represents more than 70 families – has questioned what would happen to their farming and grazing land and what alternative land and housing would be provided if they were moved.

In September, human rights lawyer Richard Spoor was arrested after a heated fracas with Mantashe at talks about the allocation of mining rights to an Australian company.