FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
26 August 2008.
DME officials visited the Umgungundlovu Great Place on the Pondoland Wild Coast took place on Wednesday 20 August 2008, as a follow up to the visit to the Xolobeni area by Minister Buyelwa Sonjica on Friday 15 August 2008. [Read more...]
Posted on August 27th, 2008 by Louis
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By: Christy van der Merwe
Published on 22nd August 2008
A series of consultations with communities affected by the proposed heavy-minerals mining operation in Xolobeni, on the Eastern Cape Wild Coast, would take place over the following weeks, Department of Minerals and Energy (DME) spokesperson Bheki Khumalo said on Friday. [Read more...]
Posted on August 25th, 2008 by Louis
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2008/08/25
THE multi-million rand titanium mining project being planned for the Wild Coast has divided the nearby Xolobeni village down the middle. [Read more...]
Posted on August 25th, 2008 by Louis
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Bongani Mthembu
Fierce opposition to the proposed mine in Xolobeni on the Pondoland coast of the Eastern Cape has forced Minister of Minerals and Energy Buyelwa Sonjica to give the community the opportunity to air their views. [Read more...]
Posted on August 22nd, 2008 by Louis
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August 14, 2008
By INGI SALGADO
There are perplexing questions around last week’s granting of mining rights in a 7km stretch of pristine coastline at Xolobeni, part of the Wild Coast that would be most inaccurately named were heavy metal extraction to proceed. [Read more...]
Posted on August 22nd, 2008 by Louis
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Guy Rogers ENVIRONMENT & TOURISM EDITOR
POLICE on the Transkei Wild Coast are investigating the brutal assault of a chief following a heated meeting over the granting of a mining licence in the area.
Amadiba Chief Ndabazakshe Baleni was set upon and beaten severely while returning home from the meeting. Police said yesterday two suspects had been arrested and a major swoop was planned this morning on Mahaha location near Xolobeni in search of a further five suspects.
Chief Baleni was one of the guests of honour at the meeting last Friday with Minerals and Energy Minister Buyelwa Sonjica and OR Tambo district mayor Zoleka Capa.
The meeting was staged on open ground near Xolobeni School, in the Kwanyana Block, on the northern Wild Coast, where the department has awarded an Australian developer the right to mine.
About 3000 people attended the meeting – described by anti-mining lobby group Sustaining the Wild Coast (SWC) as “a sea of opposition”, and the department of minerals and energy as “a mosaic of ideas”.
Mzamba police Inspector Wiseman Magana said the chief had apparently been returning alone from this function to his house in Sigidi when he was set upon.
The chief is known to support the controversial mining project and the inspector said police information was that the suspects were opposed to the mine.
Amadiba Crisis Committee spokesman Mzamo Dlamini said they believed the incident was a set-up.
Chief Baleni, sounding weak, said he had been discharged from hospital on Sunday.
An SWC spokesman said the meeting had been used “as a platform to hurl insults” at anti-mining lobby representatives.
Posted on August 20th, 2008 by Louis
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Lawyer vows court action
August 18, 2008 Edition 1
ARTHI SANPATH and RIVONIA NAIDU
The Department of Minerals and Energy’s decision to give the green light for mining on the Eastern Cape’s Wild Coast will not go unchallenged.
This is the word from environmental lawyer Prof Jeremy Ridl, who is working with the Sustaining Wild Coast Campaign (SWC) to stop mining on the ecologically sensitive coastline.
“Non-governmental organisations are mobilising, co-ordinated under the SWC’s campaign and technical experts to appeal the decision to mine,” Ridl said. He added this would be a “lengthy and cumbersome” process that could take years.
“If there are attempts to start the mining before the appeals process has ended, then there will be court action,” he said.
The wrangle over the Xolobeni Minerals Sands Project on the Wild Coast has become a controversial battle between the government and environmentalists.
On Friday, department of minerals and energy minister Buyelwa Sonjica told the media that the Australian company, Mineral Resource Commodities, was awarded provisional mining rights.
Some leaders in the impoverished community have welcomed the mining, saying employment will be created.
But Ridl explained that a sustainable long-term plan had still not been brought forward by the government. The lack of this plan, he said, would have a negative effect on the surrounding communities when the mine “closed shop”.
“The lack of the long-term sustainable plan has the ability to destroy the communities,” he said.
Ridl said while employment may be created in the short term, the real profits “will not be seen in the communities”.
“All that will be left behind will be a wasteland and the mine will massively change the coastal dune environment, resulting in the tourism option being ruled out,” he said.
This was a problem experienced worldwide, he said.
Ridl explained that although there had been questions raised over the lack of an environmental management plan, objections seemed to have been “dismissed”.
Opposition political parties said the views and benefits of the people in Xolobeni were most important.
The Democratic Alliance spokesman on environmental affairs, Gareth Morgan, said because the OR Tambo district was one of the three poorest municipalities in the country that fell out of the net of government delivery, many people who are desperate for all types of opportunities could view unsustainable developments like mining as attractive.
“But my view is that eco-tourism in the Wild Coast has a far more competitive advantage than any other of our coastlines. If it remains pristine, jobs can be provided on a sustainable basis.
“Mining in that area could create jobs, but not more than a few 100 jobs, and it would only last about 22 years. Thereafter, the area becomes less attractive and would lose its appeal as a tourist destination,” he said.
He said Sonjica sought to racialise an issue so she could stifle debate on the issues affecting the community.
IFP member of parliament Thulasizwe Buthelezi said the needs of the community on the Wild Coast needed to be balanced against conserving the environment.
Posted on August 20th, 2008 by Louis
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