Development in Sekhukhuneland in Limpopo cuts like a double-edged sword. Mining creates jobs for thousands who live in the sprawling villages of the area, but the diggings leave a trail of environmental destruction.
Lazarus Mokwena, a landscape construction lecturer, has started a local environmental rehabilitation company, Masole a Tlhago (Soldiers of Nature) in Mashishi village near Burgersfort to rehabilitate this land.
With the support of the Education Development and Learning Foundation and Stubbs Landscapes, Masole a Tlhago seeks to repair the trail of damage left by the platinum and chrome mines in the area.
“There are already three platinum mines that are going to open in the next two years and it’s important that the community is educated about being environmentally sensitive … We want to ensure that when mines dig up the ground to lay pipes, we take the uprooted shrubbery to a nursery, so that it can be replanted once the diggings are finished,” Mokwena said.
The project has also introduced measures to avoid soil erosion and pollution. It also organises environmental workshops.
Mokwena said the rehabilitation project has spin-offs for villagers, who are trained and encouraged to open nurseries for indigenous plants. “We’re trying to work with the mines on contracts and in [the process] create jobs,” he said.
One successful initiative was to replace plants destroyed during the construction of the Lebalelo water scheme pipeline that carries water from the Olifants river to the Anglo-Platinum mines. Jeremy Stubbs, manager of Stubbs Landscapes, says rare plants were destroyed, which compounded soil erosion in the area.
“The area loses 60 tons of soil per hectare per annum because of erosion,” Stubbs said. “Much of the rehabilitation is done by hand, which ensures that many jobs are created bringing much-needed revenue to the community”. — African Eye News Service