Evidence wa ka Ngobeni
It’s an ordinary Monday morning at Kaditswene in the Northern Province, where villagers are wearing construction helmets and sun hats not to avoid the scorching African sun but to fight off the thick dust and rocks propelled by blasting operations at the nearby red-granite mines.
At this village near Potgietersrus two mining companies are at loggerheads with the provincial government over the ecological effects of their open-cast mining operations. The government has also raised concerns about the deaths of Kaditswene villagers, who drowned in abandoned mining excavations.
The provincial Department of Mineral and Energy Affairs has threatened to shut the mining operations, Bestaf Granite and African Red Granite, if they fail to move the Kaditswene community away from the affected area. The companies claim they do not have the funds to relocate the villagers who have been asking both the provincial government and the mines to move them from the area for the past five years.
Bestaf and African Red began operating literally a stone’s throw from the sprawling village, which is home to more than 2000 people, the majority of whom are unemployed. Only a few work on the mines; villagers claim the companies largely employ foreigners.
The first mine opened in the area in 1985. The second was established in 1995. Today they surround Kaditswene, Sotho for “the place of baboons”.
Last year a government-sponsored environmental impact assessment found that the mines’ presence in the village had rendered the area hazardous and dangerous for residents.
Kaditswene villagers say the community has been traumatised by the death of eight residents including three children who allegedly drowned in abandoned mine excavations on the borders of the village. They also say the mine’s daily rock-blasting operations, accompanied by a noxious odour and lots of dust, has resulted in the literate youth leaving the village.
The villagers say they have been severely affected by the dust from the mines. It settles everywhere on the roofs and backyard vegetable gardens and in the lungs. Respiratory illness is common in the area.
For community leader Benny Maisela the link between the mine and respiratory illness is evident. Maisela, who is the deputy chairperson for the Kaditswene development committee, says the villagers have to take cover behind their houses after rock-blasting at the mines.
The environmental impact assessment team confirmed that some houses were affected by the blasts, with walls cracking and roofs damaged by rocks. The team found that the presence of the mines in the area violates the human rights of the community and recommended that the villagers be relocated to a new site away from the mines.
“We are not baboons. These mines want to treat us like we are bobbejaans,” says Maisela. He points to a pile of red granite blocks in the middle of an open field. “Those granite blocks that you see there have been placed in what used to be my family’s farm. The soil was rich my mother and I would plough maize and vegetables there. We used to have a better life on our farmland.”
He pauses. “Now, as you can see, the mines have taken that away from us. They have brought us pain and suffering while we do not even benefit from their mining operations.”
Two ageing and dilapidated schools, one old shop and street-based water taps are the only visible infrastructure in the village. The Kaditswene community committee says the mines have failed to develop their area.
Committee members say the mines have been giving the committee R1500, which is used to repair some of the damage that villagers say the mining operations are causing. But, they say, the money has not been forthcoming during the past two to three months. In any case, committee members say the R1 500 is little and cannot satisfy the development needs of the community.
African Red Granite spokesperson Duckworth Mafonyane denies the company’s contribution extends only to a R1 500 monthly grant. He says the company pays surface rentals to the chief and royalties to the government.
He says his company has satisfied its social responsibility at Kaditswene. “We provide them with water and fund the high school if they need funding. We assist the community a lot.”
But a drive around the village reflects a poverty-stricken parish; rusting cars on the yards, unemployed youths drinking African beer under trees, and schoolchildren walking barefoot.
Initially the mines brought hope to Kaditswene: that the companies would help improve infrastructure in the area and create much-needed jobs. Not so. Today, talk at Kaditswene’s drinking holes and community meetings are dominated by one viewpoint the community wants to get out of the “pigsty conditions” the mines have created. “We are human beings and cannot live in these conditions,” says Maisela.
But there is a problem. The mining companies claim that they do not have the R16-million to R39-million needed to move the community, says Northern Province mineral and energy affairs department spokesperson Setenani Nkopane.
Nkopane says an environmental impact assessment was not conducted when one of the two companies began operating in Kaditswene a legal requirement, but not the only one ignored. In addition, he says, the permit was given to the company long after it had started operating; the mines were initially given “permission” to operate in the area by politicians.
Nkopane says the two mines had been channelling millions of rands in royalties to the now-defunct Lebowa Mineral Trust. The trust, which was closed two years ago, was supposed to use the royalties to develop the village. It did not do so. The mines are now channelling the royalties to the national government, he says, but it is not clear when the government will use the money to develop the community or to move them.
Nkopane says his department’s priority for the past four years has been focused on pushing to relocate the villagers from Kaditswene; it is the government’s position. But the costs of relocation “have to be incurred by the mines”. And, he says, the provincial government will have no choice but to shut down the mining operations in Kaditswene if the companies fail to pay the money needed to relocate the affected villagers.
Still, Nkopane says, his department will explore various options. “We are working towards a win-win situation.” But the government’s patience with the mines has run out.
“First they asked for proof that there is a need to move those people in Kaditswene. An environmental impact assessment has proved that there is a need for the community to be relocated. We have to move to do so.”
On the process of relocation, African Red Granite’s Mafonyane says that “all options have been explored in terms of total relocation or coexistence with the mine. We will be attending a meeting this Thursday where an opinion survey on the relocation issue conducted in the village will be tabled. We will take it from there.”