Monday, 21 April 2008

Following ongoing conflict in the Xolobeni community with regard to the Mining Licence Application of MRC Ltd, Mr Patrick Caruso, brother of MRC CEO Mr Mark Caruso requested an urgent meeting with the Amadiba Crisis Committee, which took place on Sunday afternoon 20 April 2008 at the Mdatya SS School in the Amadiba Tribal Administrative Area in the Eastern Cape.

The Amadiba Crisis Committee agreed to meet with Mr Caruso, in keeping with our own programme of action to communicate our objections to the proposed mining rights application, to directly voice our complaints about the manipulation that MRC was using to gain local community support for their mining proposal.

As a condition for the meeting the ACC insisted that the two community members employed by MRC, the brothers Zamile and Bashin Qunya be excluded from the meeting. This was agreed, enabling a frank exchange between Mr Caruso, the ACC and a number of other community members, including some elders.

Mr Caruso did not explain his expectations and objectives for the meeting beforehand, and the ACC believe his need for the meeting was linked to the subpoena hearing called by the SA Human Rights Commission for the Ministers of DEAT, DME and DLA for Tuesday 22nd April 2008, to account for the failure by the departments concerned to submit documents requested by the HRC, that are needed by the HRC to complete in its investigation of a complaint lodged by the community alleging serious violations of human rights by employees of the mining company and their allies.

While useful, the meeting held with Mr Caruso can in no way be regarded as sufficient to make up for MRC/TEM’s failure to properly consult the local communities over the past ten years, and for failing to ensure our community were fully informed and able to understand the environmental impacts and risks of the mining proposal, as required by law.

The ACC therefore calls on the Honourable Ministers and the HRC to regard the meeting with Mr Caruso as part of the process initiated by the ACC to call MRC/TEM to account. Since the Chief of the area, Nkosi Baleni was not present at the meeting, we urge the Commission to reject any claim that may be made by MRC that this was an official community consultation.

But the meeting was useful in that it helped make Mr Caruso aware that the persons charged with consultation and liaison with the community are no longer trusted by the community, and have lost the confidence of the community to represent their interests.

The ACC were grateful for Mr Caruso’s willingness to hear community complaints first hand, but are disappointed that he failed to appreciate the how much conflict the MRC proposal has caused. The differences and divisions cannot be regarded as simply a difference of opinion as to the best options available to the community for their socio-economic upliftment. The ACC is also alarmed that Mr Caruso has consistently refused to communicate with our Social Worker, Mr John Clarke, or our lawyer Ms Sarah Sephton of LRC.

The ACC is also astonished at Mr Caruso’s sceptical remarks about the relevance and purpose of our complaint to the Human Rights Commission alleging the violation of fundamental human rights by his employees and allies. We call upon the SAHRC to demonstrate its relevance as an impartial institution of a democratic, developmental state, by speedily concluding its investigation and to make a finding in respect of the violations we have alleged.

Finally the ACC wishes to thank Carte Blanche, and other journalists for exposing the problems which the mining proposal has caused to our communities, and invite the media to continue to support us in efforts to ensure the public know that the Amadiba Coastal Area is a place that all people are welcome to visit and enjoy, provided they show respect for our community rights, and for the wonderful environment that sustains us.

Next year marks the anniversary of the Pondo Uprising, and we hope and pray that it will be commemorated in the Amadiba Tribal Administrative area as an event that shows that our attachment to our ancestral land is a matter of sacred value, which must be respected.

Posted on April 22nd, 2008
Filed under: Press Releases