As a local resident – and even as an erstwhile journalist and news sub-editor – I never really paid much attention to the classified ads, unless I was looking for something specific. From time to time, an ad would catch the eye, but it never really seemed important … and with social media nowadays, most advertising and information seems to happen online, making the classifieds even less compelling.
In the last few years, however, I have become aware of a whole class of classified ads that is very important indeed – often small, inconspicuous ads whose modesty belies the enormity – literally seismic – of the limited information they bring. I am quite sure that a whole spate of little ads titled ‘invitation to comment’ have gone unnoticed by many, if not most Herald readers, and that very few people on the South Coast have any idea of the scale of a certain threat looming over our community and coastal environment.
The spectre I’m referring to is mining. Not artisanal mining designed to help small communities, but industrial-scale opencast mining that removes entire mountains and catchment areas, and forces rural families to leave their ancestral lands.
Public notices published in the local press have announced quite a few new prospecting applications within Ugu District Municipality – one of 4 300 hectares in Mdoni, one of 947 hectares at Mehlomnyama, a whopping 17 693 hectares inland of Ramsgate to Southbroom and 30 608 hectares in Umuziwabantu. And then a mine in the Umzumbe area wants to expand southwards to Louisiana and inland to just below Oribi Gorge – which would bring the mine up to 34 803 hectares (16 778 + 13 998 + 4 027).
As far as we are aware of, the local municipalities under Ugu DM have accepted applications totalling 88 351 hectares to date – 18% of the total 490 800 hectares that make up Ugu DM. A group of local farmers, who do pay attention to the little public notices in the paper, successfully nipped in the bud a prospecting application applying to their land, but hardly anyone else seems aware of what’s going on. Now you know.
CONCERNED RESIDENT
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