MECKLENBURG – Angry residents of Magakala and Moroke villages barricaded the R37 Road with stones and tyres on Monday November 10 to interrupt the reopening of the Chromex chrome mine.
The mob burned tyres and blocked the roads leading to the mine, demanding jobs and that families staying near the opencast mine be relocated or compensated. Others alleged the mine took their farming land and they were starving. One community member accused the mine of hiring outsiders and sidelining”sons of the soil”.
Security officers outside the mine used rubber bullets to disperse the irate crowd. The mine had shut down operations earlier this year after the community accused it of failing to develop the area. Residents said they did not want the mining equipment to be returned to the mine as they claimed it was useless.
One person was reported injured as mine security fired at protesting residents who retaliated with stones.
Chromex Chrome Mine CEO, Mr Wimpie van Wyk, said the community took a decision that operations should resume. Van Wyk said those who were protesting was a small group of people who was set against development in the area. He said the mine would issue a statement after meeting with the community leaders and the police. He promised that operations were going to resume in less than a week’s time.
Mecklenburg police spokesman Const Elias Setati confirmed to Steelburger/Lydenburg News that the situation was calm.“We deployed police officers to ensure there is peace, all is well for now,” he said.
Setati denied reports that the mining equipments were kept at their station for safe keeping. At the time of going to print, the miners had still not resumed work.
