Wild Coast residents lobby for development
May 07, 2008 Edition 1
TONY CARNIE & BABINGTON MARAVANYIKA
THE battle between supporters and opponents of two major development proposals along the Wild Coast intensified yesterday when a group of local residents, councillors and chiefs journeyed to Pretoria to lobby in favour of sand mining and a new toll road.
Anthea Johnston, a publicist for the pro-mining group, said a group of 80 people from the Amadiba and Bizana communities handed petitions to mining minister Buyelwa Sonjica and transport minister Jeff Radebe.
Following an earlier petition in favour of the mining project, Sonjica visited the community last December, raising hope among those who supported the project that it would be implemented.
“For impoverished communities in the Bizana area, both the Xolobeni Mineral Sands Project and the N2 toll road mean much-needed jobs and a way out of desperate poverty and deprivation,” she said.
Both projects are the subject of environmental impact assessments.
However, a rival group of residents known as the Amadiba Crisis Committee has dismissed the Pretoria protest as a “pro-mining publicity stunt” by an Australian mining company and a consortium of businessmen, trucking groups and the mining industry to promote their commercial interests.
John Clarke, a social worker acting on behalf of the committee, said the Australian company, Mineral Resource Commodities, appeared to be exploiting isolated rural residents rather than fighting its own battles.
Clarke questioned who was funding the travel and accommodation expenses of the Pretoria protesters, and also whether the group was genuinely representative of people living in the Xolobeni area.
He said the pro-mining group was not an elected representative delegation and did not speak with a popular mandate from the community.
Johnston, however, said the pro-mining group was frustrated by the long delay in approving both the mining venture at Xolobeni and the toll road project.
Clarke said the petition to Pretoria had been organised in a highly clandestine manner which invited suspicion.
“A similar march was staged in early December 2007, and it emerged afterwards that several residents had been misled into believing that the march was to campaign for Eskom electricity connections, only to find that it was a pro-mining publicity stunt,” he said.
Posted on May 7th, 2008
Filed under: Newspaper and Media
I refer to the article published on the 7th may 08, and it confirms that the poorest are exploited and used by those that claim to be above everyone else/elite
” John Clarke, a social worker acting on behalf of the committee, said the Australian company, Mineral Resource Commodities, appeared to be exploiting isolated rural residents rather than fighting its own battles. Clarke questioned who was funding the travel and accommodation expenses of the Pretoria protesters, and also whether the group was genuinely representative of people living in the Xolobeni area.
Yes who paid for the flight and accomodation for the protesters? this is going to cause violence and to avoid such this project should be aborted.
refering to the clares quastion:here do notice that the coastal poeple of the wildcoast due to the poverty are being misused of their rigths yes Iknow they cant spend money to fly to pretoria as as group with nothing presurising them that is the so called sustainability projcet but if they are poor why they spend so much money who pays the transport for which interests but for me ido suport the feeling of the xolobeni as amadiba are beeing violeted of their rights;yes we want development but our land is our heritage we cant just throw it away-from xolile ARC CHAIRPERSON AND FRCC SECRETARY.