Residents of a village in Limpopo marched to the Chamber of Mines in Johannesburg on Thursday, protesting against being ”forcibly removed” to make way for an Anglo Platinum mine.
The community of GaPila, near Mokopane, was moved to Sterkwater to allow Potgietersrus Platinum Limited, an Anglo Platinum mine, to use the area, said Isaac Magongoa, spokesperson for the protesters.
The 200 protesters, mainly elderly people, requested the Chamber of Mines to facilitate talks with the mine in a memorandum of grievances handed to Frans Barker, a Chamber of Mines executive.
Barker told the protesters he will investigate the matter and report back to the community within the 14 days that he was given.
Magongoa said the community demands that the mining operation be stopped until their grievances are met.
Anglo Platinum apparently promised to pay R100 000 to each household as compensation for the removal in 2001. That promise, however, has not been met, Magongoa said.
He said the houses built for them are ”death traps” and demanded that an investigation into their standard be launched. The place they have been relocated to is also without water.
He said the community was not consulted when it was removed to Sterkwater, and the memorandum also questions the procedure followed when a decision was made with tribal authorities and the government regarding the relocation.
Anglo Platinum spokesperson Mike Mtakati said it is not true the residents were removed by force from the area.
He said the community had approached the company, requesting it to help them relocate as they were staying very close to the mine’s operations.
”We built them decent houses, and a majority of people in the area are happy,” said Mtakati.
He said there was ”no promise of money” to the community, and the company had on ”humanitarian grounds” decided to give each household R5 000 to help them relocate.
Mtakati said more than R150-million was spent on the relocation, including building the houses and paying the grants.
He said the vacated space is now used for dumping, not for mining operations, as was claimed. — Sapa