Glenda Daniels
Residents of the Ga-Pila community in the Northern Province have accused the provincial government of using ”apartheid-style tactics” during the relocation of their households.
The community is rejecting an offer of R5 000 a household as compensation to move to make way for Amplats’s mining ventures.
They are alleging that the Northern Province government is in cahoots with the mine and is using ”bullying and coercive tactics” to relocate them.
”This makes the Tony Yengeni saga look like a brown-bread-and-butter issue,” says an activist, who asked to not be named.
Last month 17 people were arrested on charges of public violence, malicious damage to property and attempted murder after they set a project manager’s car alight. Bail has been set at R5 000 which most cannot afford.
Activists say that the mine and the government have ignored their concerns about relocations and have even made threats to silence them.
”It’s a social development and economic flop. The government seems to have been tied in by some sort of underhand agreement with Amplats and so are desperate to move the people out as soon as possible. This is corruption,” says community representative Macdonald Pila.
”There is a sense of fear in the community. They feel the government is using the police to intimidate them and so are afraid to attend meetings to raise their concerns. The fear in the community resembles that which took place during the apartheid government’s tactics of arresting activists. The very high bail is regarded as unfair because half of the people who were arrested handed themselves into the police.”
Amplats representative Mike Mtakati says that the allegations of corruption and coercion by the mine and the government are false.
”Forced removals are not part of South Africa today. People are happy with the houses as they have electricity, churches and schools. I can’t comment on the imprisonment. These were due to criminal activities and are a matter for the South African police,” he said.
The chief director for economic planning and industrial development in the Northern Province, Steven Mashelane, also denies the charges of intimidation. In 1997, after the community was in ”danger of flying rocks” from the mine, there were consultations between the mine and community. The government then intervened as a facilitator.
”I have been there since day one. It’s very difficult dealing with a rural community. They were taken to three different villages and they chose Sterkfontein. There have been hundreds of meetings. The government has been on the side of the people. These allegations are just not true,” Mashelane said.
He says infighting in the community is the reason people are resisting the relocation.
”We are encouraging the community to be orderly and accept the agreement that they have signed themselves.”
He says at Ga-Pila allegations become fact. For instance, ”if someone is putting on weight there, they say bribery and corruption”.
The Ga-Pila say they are resisting the move because there is no community empowerment and development during the relocation process. They say R5 000 is inadequate compensation and there is no job creation or social upliftment during the building project as agreed. They are also unhappy because the new area is far away from where they work and the government and mine are not offering employment options in compensation.
Tensions reached boiling point last month when community members held demonstrations, erected a barricade and burned a car belonging to a project manager who was collecting signatures in support of the relocation.
”How can such a massive project turn out to be so disastrous? It boils down to the issue of capacity building. Until now the government has failed to produce a plan on how it wished to see this community relocate and set itself up to be able to manage the new village,” says Pila.
”How can a naive community be expected to go into a joint venture with a construction giant without the necessary expertise and also without apparent guidance from the government?”