‘Mine endangers our lives with blasting’ – Maditlokwa residents

Residents of Maditlokwa in Marikana, North West, have accused Tharisa Minerals of endangering their lives as – when conducting its blasting – rocks fly directly to their village.

Several villages told The Citizen whenever the blasting takes place, pieces of rock fly from the mine’s opencast pit to the communities and could possibly cause injuries to them.

Scared of flying rocks from mine

“We are scared of the flying rocks from the mine,” said community activist Odirile Kgatea.

“And another thing is, our houses are cracking. On 5 June, we wrote a letter to the provincial department of minerals resources and energy (DMRE), asking them to intervene. But we no longer trust DMRE because they previously failed to assist us.”

Kgatea alleged Tharisa Minerals had also polluted water, which the communities survive on.

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Another resident Rodney Kotsedi said: “The effects of the on-going blasting operations within proximity of the residential area have worsened.

“It is true that on 4 June, the miner conducted a blasting operation at the west pit at about 1.45pm. As a result, the community was affected by massive flying rocks that flew over the homes.”

Residents need urgent assistance from DMRE

Kotsedi said the residents needed urgent assistance from DMRE to prevent possible damage to property, injury or even death. He said a rock landed near his house and another landed on the road.

On 10 April, the Bench Marks Foundation (BMF) and WaterCAN released a report confirming Marikana residents were forced to drink filthy water due to Tharisa and several mining operations in the area.

“Opencast mining necessitates pumping out water to lower the water table, a practice used by Tharisa mine, which pumps extracted water into an old Aquarius Platinum mine shaft, purporting it as a solution to the region’s water challenges,” said David van Wyk, a researcher at BMF.

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Kotsedi said instead of addressing their grievances, the mine opened a case of intimidation against the residents.

“It was on 20 May when the sheriff of the court served us with papers indicating we were wanted in court.”

“They’re alleging we’re interrupting the mine’s operations and intimidating employees, which is something we never did. This week we appeared in court, but the case was postponed,” he said.

DMRE investigating

Ilja Graulich, head of investor relations and communications at Tharisa, did not respond to questions sent to him.

DMRE spokesperson Ernest Mulibana said: “We’re investigating the matter to find out what is happening. We will issue a statement after our investigation.”

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