Hundreds of members from mining-affected communities march in CBD
Close to MACUA 300 members, unhappy with the government’s poor handling of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, were involved in the march.
Members of a movement fighting for mining communities took to the CBD streets on Thursday to protest the ill-treatment mining communities are being subjected to.
The Mining Affected Communities United in Action (MACUA) says that the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy has not been doing enough to ensure that the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development (MPRD) Act of 2002 is properly enforced.
They are calling for it to be amended.
“We’ve been saying this for a long time, but they haven’t listened. So, we are still demonstrating today to show them that we want the MPRD Act amended or completely scrapped because it’s not serving the mining communities,” said the national branch coordinator, Austin Chaole.
Chaole said that MACUA had organised a two-day summit from Tuesday to Wednesday at the RH Hotel in central Pretoria.
One of the main calls made there was for the communities affected by mining to be the first to benefit from it.
“The mining companies are not abiding by the social labour laws or environmental regulations, they just mine, make a profit and leave,” Chaole said.
He added that MACUA recently conducted a report that found a large amount of mining companies are not compliant with the MPRD Act and accused the department of not doing anything to address it.
“We want the people to benefit from their minerals, if the MPRDA says the minerals are for the people and the state is not doing its job, we have a problem. We have minerals but if you go to those communities, there are no roads, people are living in shacks and are unemployed.”
Chaole said they also want to make mining communities aware of their rights so that big companies cannot take advantage of the land they inhabit.
President of the African People’s Convention, Themba Godi shared similar sentiments, saying the communities where these mines operate rarely see improvements.
“These communities are polluted, dilapidated and there’s nothing being complied with the licencing conditions of these mines. The department is not enforcing legislation,” Godi said.
“Ironically, there’s a mining indaba in Cape Town, which is all about government, big businesses and these communities. The latter’s land where these resources are being extracted is excluded and not heard. It is in line with the politics of this country since 1994. People without money are not heard.”
Close to 300 MACUA members, accompanied by the TMPD and SAPS, marched to the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy offices on Visagie Street, where they then handed over their memorandum.
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