Call for Ramaphosa to grant mining licences to illegal miners in Tubatse

Better roads, clean, running water and mining houses ploughing back into communities are some of the concerns Ga-Motodi residents believe President Cyril Ramaphosa should address today.

Ramaphosa will be engaging communities in the area about the work the ANC-led government has delivered in Limpopo since the advent of democracy in 1994 at an imbizo in Ga-Motodi village, a stone’s throw away from Burgersfort.

The town boasts 28 different mining houses that mine chrome, copper, sulphate, gold, copper, iridium, nickel and palladium.

All hands on deck ahead of Ramaphosa visit

During a visit to the area by The Citizen yesterday, it was all hands on deck.

Premier Chupu Stan Mathabatha oversaw operations as government departments crisscrossed the dusty villages and partly tarred townships to prepare for the president’s visit.

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“I feel blessed to be selected among the hundreds of youths, maidens and job-scavengers to collect litter at the side of the streets and the main road leading to the venue of the imbizo,” resident Joseph Mogale of Ga-Motodi said.

A married, unemployed father of four, he hawks for jobs on the streets of Burgersfort with little success and said he wished the president could visit Sekhukhune more often.

“I have been on the streets since I passed matric in 2007. I have knocked on the door of every government department, carrying my matric certificate, with no luck.

“That’s when I realised that passing matric is tantamount to going to an initiation school, because no-one wants to hire matric-passed job-seekers.

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“I breathed a sigh of relief when a subcontractor called and asked me to volunteer. That’s when I managed to put bread on the table for me and my family,” said the 38-year-old.

Not first presidential visit

Bolsheviks Party Sekhukhune secretary-general Seun Mogotji, asked what he expected from the president’s visit, said: “Remember, this is not the first time we are hosting a South African president in the region. In 2002, president Thabo Mbeki was here. He declared this region one of the poorest in the country. The former president also called on government to unleash optimum resources to turn the situation around.

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“In the not so distant time, the following president, Jacob Zuma also visited the area. He officially handed over the biggest R4.5-billion De Hoop Dam to the thirsty communities of Sekhukhune. But still, our taps are running dry.

“I don’t know if I should say Ramaphosa’s visit will miraculously turn our lives around,” said Mogotji.

No zama zamas

Aubrey Ngoatle, president of the Socialist Agenda of Dispossessed Africans, said: “We wish the president and his minister of energy and mineral resources to grant illegal miners in Tubatse mining licences and also to assist them with resources to mine.

“Our people can’t be called zama zamas on their own land as if they are strangers. All those called zama zamas are doing so because there are no jobs available.

“Instead of stealing, they go to the mother nature for help.”

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Tarring “shoddy” roads was another request, and “we also want Ramaphosa to make sure our mining houses are ploughing back to communities in which they mine”.

“There is no social responsibility from the mines to the communities here,” said Ngoatle.

Economic development, environment and tourism MEC Rodgers Monama said Limpopo was naturally a rich province, blessed with remarkable natural resources, majestic mountains and is the fruit basket of the country.

– news@citizen.co.za