August 31, 2008 Edition 1

Richard Compton

Sometimes, just sometimes, one is in a position of some experience, even authority, to provide a factual counter to, in this instance, the destructive politicking that appears to characterise the government’s attitude towards the debate over dune mining along a 22km stretch of the Transkei’s Wild Coast.

And when one is in such a position, as I postulate in this article, it’s a combination of outrage and dismay that sadly provides the motivation for the retort.

And so Buyelwa Sonjica, Minister of Minerals and Energy, what possible credibility can be given to your remarks that the people opposing the dune mining on the Pondoland Coast are “just rich whites” and that mining is “a done deal”?

This paintbrush remark can justifiably be construed as a familiar, and equally meaningless and divisive, recourse to race and class, a deliberate attempt to deflect attention from the government’s complete lack of accountability to “their people” and the responsibilities it originally assumed on behalf of these communities.

I make these remarks because I find Sonjica’s comments fly in the face of all the evidence that has come to light over the past six years, which I am aware of in my role as a presenter in five television programmes produced by Sandra Herrington of Durban-based Tekweni Television for SABC2′s environmental programme.

These programmes provided us with a particularly broad and thorough view of the entire debate. The programmes traced the proposed mining area and its overlap with the important bio-diversity components of the area; highlighted the possible impact the mining would have on this region; exposed the discovery of an archeological midden slap-bang in the middle of the proposed mining site; articulated some of the voices of those living in the area; and, finally, provided sustainable and more productive land-use options than sand dune mining offers.

Consultative

Perhaps the most damning indictment of the government’s role in condemning one of the most sensationally beautiful and rare stretches of real estate in the world to this sand mining exercise has been its failure to provide any consultative process regarding the likely consequences of such a mining operation. After all, it is public knowledge that the decision whether to mine or not would be predicated on community opinion.

In other words, South Africa would mine if, and only if, our affected communities wanted it. (To say nothing of historical comments made on camera from both environmental ministers Vali Moosa and Martinus van Schalkwyk that mining should not be allowed.)

To throw such principles and words into stark relief, at the beginning of this year we interviewed an ANC spokesman for Land Affairs (Eastern Cape) at a community tourism venture on the Wild Coast. It was on the day the government was going to make its long-awaited announcement on the issue.

The gentleman, who I will not name, owing to his honesty and co-operation, went on camera and said, “No, I’m sorry, but yes, you are right. We have not even begun consulting with the people on this mining option.”

In other words, despite the government’s claim that this community consultation process had been going on for years, nothing, absolutely nothing, had been done to give “their people” the chance to make an informed decision.

This dangerous lack of knowledge and opinion among community members had, of course, left the door wide open for complete ignorance, as well as connivance for those with other agendas. Such as the person who said he was told by a “leading politician” that if mining didn’t happen, lions and tigers would be allowed to roam free from the unfenced, proposed Pondoland Park and place the lives of people, and their livelihoods, in danger.

We talked to and met with nearly every conceivable stakeholder and as wide a cross section of people in the area as possible (most of whom, for the record, were very much against mining) and found, inevitably, further misinformation surfacing, the most common being that mining would provide hundreds and even thousands of jobs.

It must be stated that at no time has Tekweni Television ever been able to get a figure for employment that exceeded 80 people for this dredging activity. In short, this industry is far from being labour-intensive.

Of course, this leads us to the hopelessly understated and virtually ignored reality that if one is looking for the wisest and most sustainable land use option for this region, then eco-tourism, or more specifically community-based tourism, is the option.

I need not explain the magnificence of this area, its unspoilt estuaries, its rare and precious ecosystems, its cliffs, waterfalls and rivers and the culture of the people who live there. It is enough to say that one, just one, community tourism operation in the area near Mkhambathi has the capacity to employ 100 local people when (and if) it is fully operational. So just imagine what 10 such facilities, an eminently realisable number as stated by the owner, would provide? And yet, Sonjica, we have yet to hear any debate on this issue.

At one stage things looked bright. The EU invested about R70 million in establishing horse trails and overnight stays in established community-run camps. A fly-fishing concession was established at the Mtentu Estuary, in addition to a tourism facility at this estuary. But to all intents and purposes, they have now collapsed. What’s more, tourism giants such as Wilderness Safaris and the Mantis Group have pulled out of any development in the region, despite their initial willingness.

Wide-ranging interviews revealed that the money never reached the communities it was earmarked for as part of the agreement. Maintenance of the resorts waned and the operators of the fishing concession moved out. Further probing then revealed that certain leading members of the Amadiba Coastal Communities Development Association (Accoda) established to collect and allocate the money to the five affected communities in the mining region, had not been doing doing their job. The money was unaccounted for. It still is. Many hundreds of thousands of rands, it should be added.

Allegations were rife that these trust members had been seduced by the mining option and felt it was in their interest to degrade the eco-tourism business option in lieu of the “benefits” that would accrue from this Australian-based sand dredging operation. The spectre of a black business elite within its association reared its head.

Exploring the veracity of these rumours we established that people were too scared to speak out against mining, such was the widespread intimidation.

Our efforts to interview the chief trustee of Accoda were met with a particularly hostile response, amid a silent and sullen retinue of community elders.

In my opinion, it is absolutely disgraceful that a region of such extraordinary value can be left in the hands of a government department that is either patently ignorant of this region’s significance, or has little interest in protecting its assets, human and otherwise.

Allegations of corruption and guile seem to be supported by evidence and widespread perception. A semblance of democratic governance might have exposed, or at least clarified, any murkiness.

o Richard Compton is a former TV presenter for 50/50 and a communications consultant

Posted on September 2nd, 2008
Filed under: Articles