The Witness Sat, 26 May 2007
By Craig Bishop

Wild Coast plan ‘will increase poverty and crime, destroy ancestors’ graves’

A GROUP of Wild Coast sangomas have thrown their weight behind calls to veto a proposed heavy mineral mining operation on the Wild Coast, saying their ancestors have warned that the mining will increase poverty and crime in the area.

The application for a smelter and to mine ilmenite, rutile, zircon and leucoxene for the pigment and glass industry was lodged two months ago by Transworld Energy and Mineral Resources, the South African subsidiary of the Australian outfit, Mineral Resource Commodities.

The mining is estimated over a 25-year period to create 270 permanent jobs and a similar number of jobs through outsourcing. Revenue could be as high as R77 billion.

However, around 300 senior sangomas from the Mtentu region of Pondoland have joined the Sustain the Wild Coast (SWC) Campaign, which recently sent petitions to the Minerals and Energy Department, the Eastern Cape Economic Affairs and Tourism MEC and the Public Enterprises Department expressing a preference for community development based on ecotourism.

The petition is the latest in a groundswell outcry condemning the mining plans from a wide range of local civic and international organisations and members of the general public and opposition from local communities on whose ancestral and communal land the mining is proposed.

The petition describes the mining application as “a rape of South Africa’s precious natural resources for the benefit of foreigners”.

SWC spokeswoman Val Payn said this week the mining application is reminiscent of “the worst of colonial excesses of exploiting third world resources for the benefit of a few”. She said the lure of jobs over 25 years is paltry compared to the potential revenue for the miners.

“Mining will come at the price of one of the country’s most pristine, ecologically rich, scenic areas and communities who live and depend on the land,” she added.

Speaking to Weekend Witness from Mtentu, sangoma Jabulani Mboyisa said mining will destroy the graves of his ancestors and will not boost local development, as the mining consortium promised.

“The ancestors have made it clear they support tourism. They welcome tourists, not miners and the people on the coast are happy about this. The ancestors have warned that if the mining comes, there will be an increase in poverty and in crime, plus the land and traditional culture will be destroyed.”

Mboyisa told media that other communities in the area, for example the Sigidi community to the north of the Mtentu river in the middle of the mining zone, feel the same way as the Mtentu community. None want to be displaced for a mine.

GCS (Pty) Ltd has been appointed by Transworld Energy and Mineral Resources to undertake the EIA in terms of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act and the National Environmental Act. A time frame of 30 days has been allocated for authorities and Interested and Affected Parties (IAP) review and comments, and 120 days for the conducting of an EIA – for more details, visit www.swc.org.za

SWC urges all members of the public concerned about the mining proposal to register as IAPs -

e-mail your contact details to xolobeni@gcs-sa.biz or fax to 011 803 5745.

Published: 26 May 2007

Posted on May 26th, 2007
Filed under: Newspaper and Media