On 13 July 2023, The Right to Say No Campaign joins mining-affected communities from various parts of the country in a picket against the Minerals Petroleum Resources Development Act Review Summit convened by the Department of Mineral Resources (DMRE) on the 13th & 14th of July 2023.
The Right to Say No Campaign rejects this MPRDA Review Summit for the undemocratic and opaque nature of convening this summit with a select group of individuals thus choosing to engage in a manner that excludes the voices of affected communities. This Summit deliberately excludes the many communities at the coalface of violence, exclusion and destruction perpetrated by the Extractives sector. With the assistance of our government, transnational extractivist capital is given the green light to destroy, dispossess and displace at their whim in the name of development and progress. This status quo has meant that for decades affected communities continue to face many challenges including forced expulsion from their lands; destruction, pollution and grabbing of critical water sources; exacerbated unemployment; deepening poverty and unprecedented levels of violence including scourging gendered-based violence.
Today, we say enough is enough!
The Right to Say No Campaign has yet to see any responsive or forthcoming commitments from DMRE or the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Minerals and Energy towards resolving the continuous violation of human rights by the Extractives sector. We demand that our collective right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent be acknowledged and protected in the MPRDA. More importantly, we assert that affected communities have a right to say no and to negotiate development that ensures the sustainability of the present and future generations.
We view this Summit as nothing but an attempt by both DMRE and Portfolio Committee on Minerals and Energy to muddy the waters and help advance the interests of profiteering at the expense of our communities.
We remain concerned about the threats on many activists in Xolobeni, Somkhele, Nkomazi, Mokgalakwena, Sekhukhune and now Entembeni in Melmoth for defending their land, environments, livelihoods and way of life. We have already lost too many activists at the hands of those who seek to silence us. We call on our government to use all available resources to bring those responsible to book.
For more media enquiries contact:
Derick Skosana, 079 617 4543
Patrick Mashiane, 072 631 5747
The post STATEMENT: The Right to Say No Campaign Rejects the Farce that is the MPRDA Review Summit! appeared first on AIDC Alternative Information & Development Centre.
