Photo courtesy of sahistory.org.za

By Hassen Lorgat – I was invited to speak at a recent seminar for media practitioners hosted by the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism and Lawyers for Human Rights. After the workshop, I was more frightened than when I entered. Unless proactive and progressive measures are taken by civil society and the authorities, many immigrants, foreign nationals will be victimised and killed as we lead up to the national elections in 2024.

The telltale signs are already there. President Cyril Ramaphosa – clearly with political and economic resources in focus –  authorised the employment of 3 300 members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) ”for service in cooperation with the South African Police Service (SAPS) to prevent and combat crime, and maintain and preserve law and order, under Operation Prosper”. The government further reported that the SANDF will, in cooperation with the SAPS, conduct an intensified anti-criminality operation against illegal mining across all provinces, from 28 October 2023 until 28 April 2024. The cost of the deployment was said to amount to R492 143 296. This was contained in a letter from the President to the Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), Mr Amos Masondo.

The Bench Marks Foundation has taken issue with the rush to go for the troops as the government has failed to close mines properly for various reasons including costs. Indeed, there is no existing law or policy that has been implemented or effective.

Over the recent past there have been attempts to get the security forces involved to police the crisis and also because of the presumed costs to the country.  It has been reported that the “stolen gold” finds its way to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), India, and possibly China. News reports, in particular the eNCA one, suggest that more than “34 tons of gold arrived from South Africa between 2012 and 2016 this gold was likely exported illegally after being processed by small refineries in Gauteng that are at least 100 small refineries in Gauteng alone.”

It is worth bearing in mind that, from inception, the Minister of Police as well as the Minister of Home Affairs and other politicians joined in with others pretenders to the electoral throne in being anti foreigner.  

Historical view

The attacks of 2008, which our then leaders refused to label xenophobic, had similar origins. The Report on the SAHRC Investigation into Issues of Rule of Law, Justice and Impunity arising out of the 2008 Public Violence against Non-Nationals captured the context in their opening paragraph, thus:

“The scale of violence and displacement in May 2008 went far beyond any precedent in South Africa’s democratic history. Yet the 2008 mobilisation against non-nationals can only properly be understood within the country’s broader history of xenophobia and South Africa’s “culture of violence.” 1 Despite our formal transition to equality and democracy, violence is often still viewed as a legitimate means of resolving issues. 2 Non-nationals resident in South Africa are all the more likely to fall prey to violence, as South Africans often blame them for crime and unemployment, and view them as responsible for depriving “more-deserving” citizens of jobs, housing, and other economic goods. Outsiders are, therefore, often subject to intense discrimination and hostility from local communities.”

What is more, these attacks were not unexpected as a low intensity “war” against foreigners was long on the way. As a result, it is a matter of record (SAHRC) that the “May 2008 attacks, which targeted mainly community members originating from African countries, left at least 62 dead, hundreds wounded, and contributed to the displacement of 100,000 people or more.”

Whether we learnt from these actions and the reports or the warnings of today with openly fascist calls for repatriation and harm be caused on non-nationals, is still to be determined. But we do not have the luxury of time.

Mining Sector – always multinational 

We work with mining affected or impacted communities and believe that what is happening in the belly of our towns, cities and places where mining occurred or may still be present formally comes from the hands of former mine workers. These workers live either in Lesotho, Zimbabwe and wherever, but they have experience. How one defines their extractivism of the resources, mainly gold, is subject to debate as often these are the opening grounds not for a solution, but an attack on those who are vulnerable.

They are variously called zama zama’s, unregulated miners, criminal syndicates and gangsters but dominant in our media is the concept ILLEGAL, before mining. We will be living in a hole not to know that these activities cause real problems where they are located around communities, such as Maraisburg, Riverlea (Gauteng and elsewhere) and communities genuinely fear for their lives and cry out for safety.

Add illegal to your problem and…

I argue that the memory of the 62 people who have died during 2008, has taught very little to the authorities, government and the police and society at large, including the media.

A cursory glance reveals that the deaths of foreigners and the way it is reported, lacks compassion and a human rights orientation. It borders on the xenophobic and acts like the policemen who either stand by and watch abuses or, worse, are actually tacitly encouraging the violence, unwittingly.

Let me demonstrate by way of some media coverage:

“There have been a number of claims from both police and community members in affected areas that perpetrators of opportunistic crimes during the 2008 violence were inspired by media coverage of attacks elsewhere.68 It is likely that media images and reporting made visible the level of impunity enjoyed by many perpetrators, reducing the disincentive to committing crimes publicly” SAHRC report (2008)

[April 2022]
Times Live reported Four wrapped bodies of suspected zama-zamas found on Benoni road

A postmortem will be conducted to confirm the cause of death. “The deceased are suspected to be illegal miners.” Masondo said the police received an anonymous call about the bodies left next to the road. “On arrival, police found four bodies wrapped in blankets and plastic,” he said. The bodies have not yet been identified.
Comment: note the use of illegal

[September 2022]
The Independent Online Newspaper wrote:

Rustenburg – Gauteng police have launched an investigation after the bodies of six suspected illegal miners were found with gunshot wounds near the N1 freeway in Johannesburg on Wednesday, Gauteng police said.
The bodies were found near the Maraisburg off-ramp in Bosmont.
According to Gauteng police spokesperson Brigadier Brenda Muridili, police were informed about the bodies that were lying in an open veld next to the N1 freeway in Bosmont and New Canada, in the Johannesburg district.
Comment: the reporting of others were similar…note six suspected illegal miners…no space to say humans…

[November 2022]
The Sowetan reported that the “21 suspected illegal miners who were found dead at the Amatshe mine in Krugersdorp, on the West Rand, may have been trapped underground during heavy rains.

Mogale City mayor Tyrone Gray said while investigations were still underway to determine how exactly the men died, indications were that Tuesday’s heavy rains had prevented them from exiting the narrow tunnels…”

[January 2023]
Briefly.co.za reports that 8 DEATHS:POLICE INVESTIGATE THE DEATH OF 8 ALLEGED ZAMA ZAMAS BURIED ALIVE IN HEAVY RAINS IN LIMPOPO

This short article is filled with illegal and alleged zama zamas and clearly lacking compassion nor understanding of a wider problem and context.

[June 2023]
Zama-zama death toll may rise – MantasheMantashe called for Lesotho and SA to work together to combat illegal mining
(The Citizen and the South African Government)

Mantashe was speaking at the mine in Welkom where the accident occurred in May. A report of the incident was received by the department over the weekend.
“Illegal mining is not mining activity, it is a criminal activity. They get into accidents and die in numbers. They suspect 31 here [but] I can tell you it will be more than 31. In Krugersdorp, we saw the deaths of 21, in Gloria we saw the deaths of 17,” he said.
The minister said retrieving bodies underground will not be easy.
“We have agreed to put our heads together to find a solution. We can’t leave those bodies underground. That is what we are working on, but this is going to take a bit longer because there is no direct shaft that has a connection with this shaft.

[June 2023]
News 24 reported that: Investigation launched into the death of 31 Zama Zamas in Free State mine

Investigations have been launched into the deaths of at least 31 people in a mine last month in the Free State province that has been closed for around 30 years, the energy department said late on Thursday.
They are believed to be from neighbouring Lesotho – which reported the incident to South African authorities – and died in a ventilation shaft in Virginia mine in Welkom city, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) said.
Comment: rather cold and impersonal in the face of death of humans.

[August 2023]
SABC (August 2023) reported that “Dozens of residents of the Jerusalem informal settlement, south of Johannesburg, have spent the night at the Florida police station, following a shoot-out between suspected illegal miners.

Details surrounding the incident are sketchy. Xolani Fihla, spokesperson of the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD), says residents fled to the police station on Thursday night.“Last night, a group of scared residents sought refuge at the Florida police station fearing for their lives amidst the prevailing atmosphere of violence. MMC Tshwaku [Johannesburg MMC for Public Safety, Dr Mgcini Tshwaku] was on scene and would like to assure residents of Jerusalem that JMPD will work with SAPS and community policing forum members to put an end to this violence and terrorising of residents by the zama zamas,” explains Fihla”.
Comment: note the use of illegal and terrorising the residents. No other comment by an NGO or the so called Zama Zama’s was sought. 

News 24 on the same story argued not providing greater context nor mentioning the failure of the government in terms of mine closures. They argued similarly under the emotive headline: ‘We live like rats’: Desperate Joburg residents reveal their fear of zama zamas

In both these stories, not comment on the companies who have a legal, moral and societal obligation to close mines and rehabilitate the land to its former conditions.

[October 2023]
The CItizen reported on the Minister of Police thus:

‘In their yards are Lamborghinis’: SA cracking down on ‘big guns’ in illegal mining – Cele
The Police Minister outlined how the government is dealing with the issue of zama zamas in SA.
He said the suspects, six of them foreign nationals and three South Africans, live in fancy houses, with expensive furniture and fancy cars.
“We have moved up to the middle level. We have arrested nine people who are middle class of some form in the zama zamas.
Cele said the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) had already attached 51 one of the suspects’ cars and seven houses that could be worth R38 million.
Comment: Minister Motsoaledi and Minister Cele are regular features in this field.

Dr Elias Motsoaledi and Bheki Cele, Ministers of Home Affairs and Police respectively, are two of the key culprits.

Conclusion:

These examples were just chosen as they appeared and there are many more. The point, however, is that they are dispassionate and seemingly – wittingly or otherwise – against these activities. Government and the corporations get a free hand and are rarely part of the story.

The phrase illegal becomes a licence to kill or do whatever. Journalists must take more care as words are costly.

I accordingly propose some pointers we may want to consider going forward. These are:

Politicians must put a lid on it

We must address popularist rantings from within the ANC and outside of it as it is a growing problem that encourages other pretenders to do likewise. Those others out of power but vying for power like Mashaba, Herman and those from the Patriotic Alliance have no barriers in their hateful comments. These must be challenged if and when reported to various relevant authorities.

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) must include in the pledge not to cause harm to foreigners and non-nationals. The Electoral Commision usually encourages that all contesting political parties and candidates sign a pledge committing them to promote free and fair elections in the country and free political campaigning and open public debate. Doing harm to others, in particular non-nationals, is a violation of the constitution and the pledge must reflect that. The pledge comes into existence from the day of the proclamation of an election until the announcement of results.

We must dust off all those past resolutions from the World Conference Against Racism (WCAR), including the report of the SAHRC quoted above here. In the final declaration of the World Conference Against Racism there are specific recommendations to the media and the media owners. They can start by calling out racism and xenophobia and providing more contextual and accurate reporting.

Civil society organisations must champion the necessity of transforming the Southern African Development Community (SADC) into a Southern African solidarity Community with an economy based on social justice, decent work and possibilities for creative livelihoods, that favours self-employment and community sustainability. The free movement of people was long ago championed by The Southern Africa Trade Union Coordination Council (SATUCC) and the African Free Trade Agreements. These are pointers that should be used to further integrate and unify a region that has so many linguistic, historical and employment relations that go back to over a century. The subregion is imbued with immense wealth for the benefit of the many and not the few. It is time to take that foot forward and step away from kicking a brother or a sister.

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JOHANNESBURG – Lead researcher at Bench Marks Foundation, David van Wyk, says mining companies need to be held liable for tragedies at abandoned and unsecured mines.

The comments come as South African authorities scramble to recover 28 bodies in a ventilation shift at an old mine in the Free State.

It’s understood the bodies of the Basotho nationals have been there for more than a month, with gas leaks underground stalling recovery efforts.

Three bodies have already been retrieved by other suspected illegal miners, bringing the death toll up to 31.

The mine where the 31 illegal miners died previously belonged to Harmony Gold and was last operational in the 1990s.

It’s understood the company didn’t rehabilitate the mine or seal it off, making it a breeding ground for illegal mining.

Van Wyk said that mining companies must carry some blame for this recurring issue.

“The whole area is like a Swiss cheese of holes, everywhere there are holes. So why is the department of mineral resources and the portfolio committee not asking mining companies to behave responsibly, according to their social and labour standards, according to their environmental impact assessments and according to their mining closure standards? Why is that shaft still open?”

Chairperson of Parliament’s committee on mineral resources and energy, Sahlulele Luzipo, said that the country also needed to seriously look at tightening its porous border s.

“We’ll require also that our neighbouring countries also assist in this exercise.”

Investigations are yet to determine the circumstances of the tragedy.

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by BenchMarks | Jun 22, 2023 | Newsletter

At the time of putting this Bulletin to bed, news came in about the discovery of human remains in abandoned and unsecured mines. The Bench Marks Foundation has asserted that the deaths in an old Free State mine lay at the door of the government. Watch this interview with David van Wyk on eNCA. And see also the statement of the government in our Resources Section below. What is clearly evident is that this problem is simply too big for one department, the DMRE, to resolve. We need a national plan on how to deal with the increased poverty and inequality in society, mine closure, tailings facilities and the other ills of mining. We can and must do more to hold those who cause damage to account. The DMRE must do more… faster!

Dear comrade, this edition is filled with news, views and critical opinions that track the organisation and the movements pushing for justice and an accountable democracy. June was Youth Month and the concerns of the youth are readily repeated at these times. This month saw the national assembly pass a long overdue bill on the National Health Insurance. We also report some progress on the decisions of the campaign our members have been involved with and in around the transition from analogue to digital.

The ongoing campaign around Raw Materials demands that we keep talking about it. Our regular feature From The Ground covers stories on tailings, youth concerns, phytoremediation and a first person reflection on a visit to Jagersfontein. How Africa treats nature and uses its resources is a serious challenge but selling them wholesale and raw to the European Union, China or the USA is not an option worth considering.

Read and pass on!

· EDITORIAL ·

Youth month commemorates the events of June 1976 which changed the history of this country. We do not want to bore you with the promises of politicians during this time but rather we hope that through critical reflection we can re-learn the sacrifices that brought us here. By sharing the story to the older and young generations about this time and those who recorded it: photographers, writers, singers, poets and creative people from all genres. BrandSA wrote on how Peter Magubane covered the revolution. This video on Magubane’s work on June 16 takes one back to the time flames and hopes.

We end with the poem of James Matthews called Cry Rage, Freedom’s Child. Poet Matthews was arrested after the Soweto uprising in 1976 and held without trial for four months before he was released.  

“Freedom’s child / you have been denied too long / fill your lungs and cry rage / step forward and take your rightful place / you’re not going to grow up / knocking at the back door / for you there will be no travelling / third class enforced by law / with segregated schooling and sitting on the floor / the rivers of our land, mountain tops / and the shore / it’s yours, you will not be denied anymore.”

ARTICLES

Image Source: canadianlabour.ca

The National Assembly passes Health Bill, eventually In June, the National Assembly (NA) passed the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill during its plenary sitting. It has been a long process. Some believe it should have been introduced much earlier as this was the promise of the Reconstruction and Development Plan. It provided great civil society participation and quality. For many reasons, the bill received a lot of criticism, but it cannot be denied that, if it works, it will be a public good, as the NHI Bill – according to parliament – “seeks to provide for universal access to health care services in the country in accordance with the National Health Insurance White Paper and the Constitution of South Africa. The Bill envisages the establishment of a National Health Insurance Fund and sets out its powers, functions, and governance structures. The Fund will purchase health care services for all users who are registered with it.”

According to the statement from Parliament, the Bill will also “create mechanisms for the equitable, effective, and efficient utilisation of the resources of the fund to meet the health needs of users and preclude or limit undesirable, unethical and unlawful practices in relation to the Fund. It further seeks to address barriers to access.”

  It has another leg to go through for concurrence – the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) – but it is halfway there.

Many question – even from the left – whether this bill will meet the World Health standard of universal health coverage. This means that people must access the full range of quality health services they need, when and where they need them, without financial hardship. It covers the full continuum of essential health services, from health promotion to prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and palliative care.

The union federation COSATU’s spokesperson Matthew Parks said the current status quo is not working for workers and the poor: “Both the public sector and the private sector, we can’t continue to believe that the status quo works. We have about 8.5 percent of our GDP spent on healthcare, half of that goes to taking care of about 14 percent of society which can afford private medical aid, as a consequence you see a heavily under utilised private medical industry but luxurious at times private medical industry.

Already in 2018 SAFTU, gave their support to the NHI thus: “SAFTU is clear that the NHI is the only way to end the present, disastrous and racialised two-tier health regime which provides top-class service to the wealthy white majority but a dysfunctional, understaffed and underfunded service to the overwhelming poor black majority”.

The Health Justice Initiative, however, argues that the NHI bill is likely to fuel further fragmentation as the current version of the bill is far from equalising access in a radical way.

“Is it possible to have a single pricing structure for whatever model is operating, so that you can actually regulate that space in a context where there are limited funds? The pricing structure for non-NHI medicines urgently needs attention, as it is said that the Medical Schemes will continue to operate for some time before NHI is fully implemented.’

Social solidarity is not a reality in the short term as the NHI is too busy with documentation at the risk of public health needs. Mining communities in particular, whose health is compromised by poorly regulated mining, need an NHI. We cannot be by-standers in the struggle for quality health care. We have no option but to make it work for us and future generations!

Image Source: EWN Image Source: EWN 

Finally migrating? A bit of a victory…

The new minister of Communications Gungubele seems to have been listening to civil society demands, Or maybe they were just playing good cop or bad cop. In a recent announcement which made firm decisions of our migration from analogue to digital, they have at least conceded a few of our demands.

Firstly, the government has agreed to a staggered switch off.

Secondly, they have allowed a dispensation for those broadcasters who broadcast on the frequency 694MHz and below, to remain, as we have told them the rest of Africa has a two tier system. They noted that not permitting this would result in “border sites that may cause interference with neighbouring countries. We will thereafter progressively switch-off all remaining sites towards the final Analogue Switch Off date as set in step 2. 

The steps, they explained as below:

2023. a) Step 1: Immediately switch-off analogue services above the 694MHz band to release spectrum for other telecommunications use and the set date for this step is the 31st of July 2023.
2024. b) Step 2: Temporarily accommodate some of the high population areas below 694MHz, and switch-off within a given period and the set date for this step is the 31st of December 2024.

2.2. A two-step approach towards Analogue Switch-Off is deemed to be a viable approach for the industry.”

But the proof of these decisions lay in the practice. We need to ensure that support for communities, and individuals migrated is promptly handled. Failure to do so, would result in them experiencing a de facto black out. In addition, there must be increased support for the indigent and the working poor. They can start by reopening the registration process for those seeking assistance for a simple reason that the vehicle they were using – the post office – was dysfunctional for most of the time. And it continues to be so.

This and the reasons for costs / affordability, as well as the question of whether these products are available, all demand that more is needed, not less, to ensure the poor do not lose out.

RAW MINERALS FEATURE

Image Source: the-star.co.ke 

We demand more of and from our leaders

Just the other day, we received correspondence from our allies in the global North seeking to combine our actions around the Critical Raw Materials Act. The call to combine struggles amongst civil society groups all over the world is a great leap forward for the struggles of the poor and working people of the world.

The letter described the initiatives of the bosses and their representatives as “a new regulation the EU is working on to boost mining for the energy transition, defence and space exploration. In this new regulation, the EU wants to enable fast tracking and the facilitation of ‘public acceptance’ for raw materials projects (extraction, processing, refining, recycling, etc.) with increasingly less constraints.” 

They correctly warn that we – the “resource-rich countries – now targeted for metals and minerals in high demand.” The concern of our allies is for a more ambitious strategy from the EU for better benefit sharing, added value, community rights and civil society space. 

In other correspondences of the EU CSO comrades, they correctly point out that the “EU wants to ensure access to critical raw materials, our main concerns with the current draft legislation lacking ESG safeguards and insufficient measures to ensure and define value addition in Global South countries. With it, we’d mainly like to engage Global South CSOs which may be strongly affected by the EU’s push for mineral extraction with up to 90% of the EU’s supply to come from non-EU countries.”

Quite frankly, we demand more from our leaders. Many are either living under rocks or deliberately lying about the meaning of these raw materials act and the initiatives around it.

From the above account, it is clear that they cannot do what they want without our consent and that is why revisiting what happened to Indonesia is important.

Indonesia: the years of living dangerously

In earlier editions of the Bulletin, we spoke of the problems Indonesia faced when it sought to use its raw materials for the development of its own people. To recollect our earlier concerns, Indonesian leaders have argued consistently that whilst the country is rich in mineral resources, it contributes next to nothing to the country’s economy and the people’s well being. President Jokowi Widodo has said: “Indonesia always exports raw materials, while it is better to process and consume them through downstream industry or domestically.”

The problem is that the patterns of business or seeking to eke livelihoods has continued to follow colonial patterns. The country exports its minerals and, according to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, the coal sector alone was said to contribute only 5% to Indonesia’s GDP in 2019. But Indonesia boasts huge deposits of natural resources, including tin, nickel, cobalt and bauxite, and they sought to turn these materials to the benefit of their people. They began listing some of these materials, in particular nickel and bauxite, as strategic. Their leaders reasoned that these raw materials were critical for electric vehicle production and to widen and deepen indigenous economic development of downstream industries. Simply put, this involves processing raw materials into finished products to provide added value products at HOME. This would mean, instead of selling crude oil to a country, Indonesia and the others could refine these into petroleum, diesel and plastics which will benefit the poor in those countries and their neighbours.

What is vitally important is for those governments seeking to develop their countries and the regions not be isolated. Those who try need solidarity from like minded governments as well as the citizens.

What Indonesia wants is modest and respectable:

• They want to grow their economy and away from exporting of raw materials, as well as develop their downstream industries in their country
• Downstream activities, they have argued, means that the processing of raw materials into finished products happens in their home country so that value is added. The example given is that instead of selling crude oil, these can be refined at home into petroleum, diesel and plastics. Then they can trade these goods with whoever.
• They want to transform raw nickel into higher end products like lithium batteries for electric cars, which their investment board correctly said will result in economic growth and greater social advancement for the people.

In the old days, the EU and the leaders of the global North would not have gone to the World Trade Organisation to compel Indonesia to open its markets… they would have initiated coups and killed the leaders!

As civil society groups,, we demand from the world’s largest nickel producer Indonesia – who as Earthworks has so aptly put it, “sits at the crossroads of climate protection, clean energy and human rights” – higher standards of human rights adherence, not less. This we will not concede as we support our governments.

Africa Unite

African governments have been slow to take up this matter. During the past few months, Botswana has sought to renegotiate the terms of “their” arrangements around diamonds. It was followed by Namibia who, during March 2023, reported that the state-owned company NAMCOR had made a third oil discovery. Many have demanded that Namibia put the interests of their people and the sub-region first. Namcor has partnered with Shell (SHEL.L) and QatarEnergy in the Jonker-1X deepwater exploration well, in the Orange Basin offshore southern Namibia. In addition, some have cautioned that the country take deep care about the ocean habitat and the wider environment. This discovery will add to the oil producing capacities of the African continent, along the African Atlantic coast which it shares with its Opec member Angola.

But the greatest political speech “award” must go to the president of Kenya, William Samoei Ruto. His speech has been widely shared on social media, which may suggest that Africans are at last taking notice.

The President of the Republic of Kenya and Chair of the Committee of African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change (CAHOSCC) presented the keynote address during May 2023. In a speech entitled “The Continent at the Crossroads; Graceful just transition and NDCs implementation responsive to African development aspirations and economic realities”, President Ruto made the following points:

1. The Summit seeks to galvanise a critical mass of African society behind pro-poor, just, equitable, locally-led, and science-based decisions in NDC implementation and overall climate action.
2. Africa’s abundant wealth of natural resources, immense endowments of untapped green renewable energy and our youthful demographic profile are key levers in mitigating and reversing climate change.
3. We must shift the global narratives around Africa and climate change. “At the moment, conversations about climate change in Africa focus on the fact that Africa’s contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions is minimal at only 4 per cent, yet the impact of consequent climate change on our people is huge. The discourse also mainly focuses on the important questions of compensation for loss and damage, and funding for adaptation and resilience.”

At the forthcoming African Climate Summit that will be held in Nairobi this year, African leaders and civil society must be firm in what our collective demands are at COP28.

The Kenyan leader urged that we have to work on changing the continent as faced with perpetual challenges,  weak and corrupt. We have to overcome this narrative and image of the continent and the “emerging psychology of victimhood implicates both African and global leadership in a politics of pity and helplessness. It also denies the world’s youngest continental repository of unparalleled abundance the agency to articulate appropriate solutions to its own problems and to offer its unique, indispensable contributions on the broader global stage,”  the Climate conference will be an opportunity to show that united front.

One of the steps praised by Ruto is the Africa Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA), spoken off in our last article in the Bulletin. Ruto praised it as a step in the right direction “to the extent that it seeks to enhance trade within the continent and presents the continent as one large trading area. “Such a framework would position Africa as the world’s most competitive industrial, investment and trade destination”.

We urgently need an African Reconstruction and Development Programme which must include the demand for reparations for slavery, colonialism as well as ensuring that the democratic socio-economic and political rights of Africans are enhanced. The Lagos Plan of Action spoke of the Environmental Rights thus, “priority areas of environmental concern requiring immediate action”: (a.) Maintaining safe drinking-water supplies and environmental sanitation; (b.) Desertification and drought; (c.) Reforestation and soil degradation; (d.) Marine Pollution and conservation of marine resources; (e.) Human settlements; (f.) Mining; (g.) Air Pollution Control; (g.) Environmental education and training, legislation, and information. The Lagos Plan stressed the need for the creation of an environmental matters intergovernmental committee as well as the cooperation of Member States for the progression of Africa’s environmental development.

Ruto made time to address the media to the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) which he said has” potential negative impact(s) on  African exports. Our exports are produced in older and smaller industrial facilities that are not managed to minimise emissions compared to their European counterparts. The EU’s mechanism is transmitting the most emphatic demand signal and lays down a set of incentives that make low-emission production competitive. This is exactly what Africa can offer through transition,” he said.

How Africa engages will depend on our “unbought and unbossed” leaders stepping up and engaging with uncaptured trade unions and civil society organisations in the process.

To conclude
We demand that our leaders unite around an African programme. They must support the right of Africans as part of the Global South to determine our own destinies. Indonesia must not be isolated. We must demand an end to corporate bullying and the imposition of the rule of elites. To the South African leaders we must say, when you take your office you promise to uphold our constitution, human rights… Now is your chance to show it. By asking for our leaders to take ownership of our mineral wealth, this must not be seen as a free hand to exploit or run over rough-shot on the rights of communities and the environmental rights. 

To our European comrades, we have called on them to assist us in campaigning on a just playing field. We call on the EU and governments of the Global North not to use other stratagems, multilateral institutions such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO), World Bank (WB), International Monetary Fund (IMF) to undermine the rights of countries and the peoples of the Global South to determine their own destinies.

To the EU governments and the European parliament, we demand they recognise that the world’s resources are limited and must be equitably shared. For their part, the EU must reduce its consumption of resources and move towards a low-resource, sustainable economic model that promotes sharp increases in recycling and the multiple use of products.

Image: Mine tailings reservoir in Magadascar that receives slurry through a pipeline from an ore processing plant (Shutterstock)

Madagascar and the New Frontiers of Sacrifice Zones
The African country is rich in minerals, including rare earth elements. But extracting them from the ground poses enormous environmental and social risks.

Madagascar, a collection of islands off the east coast of Africa, is among the countries most impacted by climate change. It is a resource-rich country that is also struggling with poverty, debt, crumbling health systems, the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, and a myriad of other problems. 

The country’s economic recovery depends on the transition to cleaner energy, but only if its development model effectively reduces environmental, climate and disaster risks, and provides social and economic benefits to the vulnerable groups that constitute 80 percent of the population. 

The International Energy Agency estimates that by 2040, renewable energies such as wind and solar power will account for 82 percent of total metal and mineral demand. Another significant portion of metals will be devoted to the replacement of gasoline-powered cars with electric cars (which require six times more metals and minerals) and to the overall decarbonization of the transportation sector. According to the World Bank,  more than three billion tons of metals and ores—including rare earths, cobalt, graphite, nickel, copper, and lithium—will be needed over the next 30 years to power technologies related to the energy transition.

Madagascar’s wealth in minerals and metals critical to the energy transition places the Big Island in a particularly delicate position. In the face of increasing global demand, companies from rich countries have rushed to secure these metals, particularly the rare earths with which Madagascar has been richly endowed by nature. The country sorely lacks the capacity to value these critical minerals and negotiate profitable contracts with the multinational companies that dominate the extractive industries.

Madagascar has become a “sacrifice zone” where the lives of the local inhabitants risk being “sacrificed” so that richer countries can successfully make their own energy transition. What geographer Julie Klinger  calls “rare earth frontiers” are located in places where local lives and landscapes are seen as expendable in the name of the common good:

These places where toxic companies and their harmful effects eventually land are known as ‘sacrifice zones,’ because their destruction is seen as indispensable for achieving the common good. It is in the areas of sacrifice that the so-called negative externalities are located. They are not ephemeral or intangible: they have a specific geography that can be mapped. The destruction of landscapes and lives in rare earth mining has generally been seen as a fair price to pay, usually by those who do not live in the sacrifice zone.
Read More

By Zo Randriamaro | April 19, 2023

Image Source: EyeWitness News

GOLD MAFIA: the South African government responds

In a question posed to him in parliament, President Ramaphosa replied as follows:

Honourable Members,

The Government takes the allegations made in the Al Jazeera documentary titled ‘Gold Mafia’ very seriously. We are committed to the preservation of the integrity of the financial system in the interest of the broader economy and ordinary citizens.

Investigative and regulatory authorities will act in accordance with their mandate, including in coordination with other jurisdictions where necessary to take action against those found guilty of wrongdoing.

With respect to actions currently being taken to investigate individuals who are alleged in the documentary to be criminally implicated, an enquiry has been registered by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation to investigate these syndicates and individuals.

This investigation is at an enquiry stage and no arrests have been made as yet. Details of the steps that are being taken cannot be divulged at this stage without compromising the investigation. At the same time, the Government is working with the Financial Action Task Force to implement an action plan to strengthen the country’s efforts to counter money laundering and financing of terrorism.

The SAPS Detective Service is currently investigating several serious criminal cases that include money laundering as an offence. The investigation of proceeds generated by serious crimes like fraud, corruption, tax-evasion, customs and excise and narcotics-related offices are also investigated across the South African Police Service.

Government will continue to combat corruption and money laundering in South Africa. It will do so both through strengthening its capability to investigate, prosecute and prevent illicit financial activities and thoroughly investigating specific allegations, such as those contained in the Al Jazeera documentary.”

FROM THE GROUND

Bringing back our good soil via “agriculture mining”
Jimmy Luhende, Actions for Denocracy and Local Governance

When Norwegian Church Aid and the Bench Marks Foundation invited me to join the phytoremediation project, little did I expect that I would be spending time with one highly motivated community who have a fulfilling experience of seeking change in a very complex mining situation. It was a total learning about how they started and what they intend to achieve.

This well-conducted exchange visit provided a valuable learning experience. I was travelling with Catherine Kalinga who is one of the devoted community animators in Kahama district in Shinyanga region in our country, Wetravelled to Soweto, South Africa, for experience sharing. 

Catherine and I visited the Riverlea and Snake Park communities in Johannesburg, to learn about proud community actions on an interesting phytoremediation project. We spent three days (7th – 9th June, 2023) visiting sites of the phytoremediation project, which was started to deal with the interwoven threats of mining, agriculture and the environment.

These three sectors are a threat to the health and well-being of the inhabitants of the adjacent locations mentioned above. These community members we met are indeed devoted and actively engaging into the project by planting sunflowers close to tailing, mine waste dams.

The phytoremediation project is a community initiative for re-vegetation of heavy metal polluted land. The project is supported by BenchMarks Foundation. The Norwegian Church Aid in Tanzania consulted Actions for Democracy and Local Governance (ADLG), to assist us in organising an exchange visit to South Africa. This was a step in our learnings as we intend to start a similar project in Tanzania. Everyone is excited to see this happening in Tanzania. The community in Riverlea and Snake Park are also expected to visit Tanzania as part of this project.

The community at Snakepark established an active group now as “Bambanani”, which means “togetherness’. It was interesting to see how the community organised themselves. They also engaged farmers who supported them by giving them manure. Furthermore, we discussed how they can engage them strategically so that they can plant more sunflowers: after harvesting, the farmers can get animal feed from the project, and sunflowers can give them cooking oil and animal feed.

Bambanani has few of its members who have been directly affected by mine waste. Ms Nabulewu Sisheluza lost her baby who had cerebral palsy (CP). She later established a forum of mothers who have similar experiences.

She is seeking to help more mothers by working with the project. She informed us that heavy metals are in their soil. These metals have entered their food and have also entered and accumulated in their bodies, so she said she has to join efforts that seek to do remediation of soil contamination. We also discussed with members of Bambanani the possibilities of planting medicinal trees to add value in the food and nutritional value chain. We thought the families will also get honey from these various trees and increasingly improve their immunity.

I thank Eric and the entire team from the Bench Marks Foundation, Mr Charles at Riverlea, Thoko and Phumi, the chairperson, for their time and indeed for their dedication to save the community. They told me that the Snakepark has a very huge population and this is very serious looking at the health risk next to their hearts. It is very heartening to hear that last December the tailings washed and splashed nearby houses. We all know that the waters are contaminated already by sulphur, leaving alone the air.

Wiki definition: Phytoremediation technologies use living plants to clean up soil, air and water contaminated with hazardous contaminants. It is defined as “the use of green plants and the associated microorganisms, along with proper soil amendments and agronomic techniques to either contain, remove or render toxic environmental contaminants harmless”.

What became of the town and the people of Jagersfontein post-tailings dam disaster? An outsider’s perspective
Nteboheng Phakisi-Portas

I had never been to Jagersfontein before June 2023. In fact, what I knew about the sleepy little town was pretty limited – only that it was a mining town in the southwestern Free State. However, in the second half of 2022 all of a sudden, the sleepy town was in the limelight. On September 11, the tailings dam, on the edge of the town, collapsed due to structural failure. In no time the greyish sludge covered the town’s landscape, destroying homes and killing three people in the process, and inundated agricultural fields and rivers. “It started with a thundering sound then screams of people trying to get away followed,” a resident explained. The disaster received a fair share of coverage – local and international news outlets, NASA, American Geophysical Union etc. Even the New York Times ran a story titled: The World Got Diamonds. A Mining Town Got Buried in Sludge. After all this coverage one would have assumed that the victims would get as much attention as the disaster itself. What has become of Jagersfontein and its people?

On the 10th of June 2023, I accompanied my colleague David van Wyk to the town and got an update from people on the ground (this was part of Bench Marks Foundation’s commitment to assist communities affected by mining waste). Almost a year later, some parts of the town are still capped with greyish muddy debris. Upon entering the town, there is an incredible silence – only a few cars passing by and few people roaming about. The colossal tailings dam is still there and showing cracks. I wonder what seeing the dam everyday does to the psyche of the victims. There is a fence and a signpost which warn people not to go closer to the tailings (a resident tells us all the fences and signposts are new). There is another fence right in the middle of the township, a warning to people not to go closer to the stream where the greyish sludge is still visible. Was there ever a clean-up of some sort? I wonder. 

In Itumeleng Township, which is closer to the tailings dam, we encounter empty houses and deafening silence. “What happened to the people, where did they go to?” I ask David, but he is as perplexed as I am. We stop by and take a few pictures of the empty houses. Shoes, a metal base of a bed, irons, tables, torn curtains, all left behind, tell a heart wrenching story of what happened on that fateful morning, September 1.

Image courtesy of Zapiro, Mail and Guardian 2022

The Youth Need Guidance and Jobs
Tebogo Dikale, Province District, Bojanala Rustenburg

June is youth month and it has its own rich storytelling. It is a time when we think of apartheid, when young people took to the street to fight the then apartheid regime of the day imposed Afrikaans as a language of instruction in African schools and the struggle for better education.

Today, with many years gone by after those days in 1976, South Africa is a different place. The fruits of liberation are evident as one can use whatever language one wants to use to learn in. We must give thanks to those young people who were fighting for a just cause.

Many decades later, South Africa is a different country and the youth has the right to raise their voices on the things that concern them. I asked a few young men about how they see life today? This is what they told me: 

They raised quite a number of issues relating to the current administration of government which I will not go into here fully. The main complaint is simple: there are no jobs for the youth. Furthermore, they believe many youth are addicted to alcohol and, as a result, suffer  drinking problems. They do things they do not want to do because of  peer pressure. Absenteeism in schools is widespread because of the absence of a father or father figure.

I took out three things out of our discussion: absenteeism of father, unemployment, and politics. When I heard one of them raise peer pressure in our discussion, I took a swipe and asked the speaker a couple of questions which they dwelled on.

Absenteeism of his father was to loss of life due to cancer while his father was working from the mine. The absence of the fatherly guide is sorely missed. The mines did not take responsibility for the illness while his father was still working there. I learnt that the unions are also failing its workers.

They also raised a problem of drinking alcohol. I then asked how we solve this problem of drinking as young people. One of them mentioned sports, saying it can take away young people from the streets and contribute positively to good health. This gives rise to other problems. We do not have quality sporting facilities. Our area is lacking sports facilities such as netball, swimming, soccer, volleyball, basketball. That’s what they said. 

On the issue of unemployment affecting the youth population between the ages of 18 to 35, they can’t access work as the government is not creating job opportunities for them. Job creation is needed so the youth can contribute to the economy and society. Trying to create jobs is difficult because of red tape. When you go to banks trying to access funding, this is almost impossible. 

I know that job creation is not only done by the government but also the companies. This must be done as a matter of urgency. The young people I had a conversation with finished basic education in 2021 and now they can’t access job opportunities and contribute to the economy. Some are relying solely on grandparents for support from government grants.

Finally, I asked them how they feel about the current political situation. They do not see the necessity of political parties as they struggle with a lot of things i.e right to water,  the current load-shedding. They also ask themselves what’s the use of going to vote when politicians forget them as soon as they get into power.

Date 19 June 23

We are not in a tailspin – we are turning a corner

The struggles around tailings facilities to be managed in a transparent and accountable manner took a boost this last month. It began with the community of Wonderkop (North West Province) approaching the Bench Marks Foundation for assistance around the construction of a tailings dam near their homes without their free, prior and informed consent. They called on us and our international allies Earthworks and Mining Watch Canada, whom we work with in the international tailings movement. Our partners are the leaders in the process that culminated in the principles we signed on called Safety First.

The community asked the Bench Marks Foundation to write to the company seeking representation in what they believe is an imposed tailings facility. The company has agreed to meet us.

Secondly, we met Adam Matthews and his team over a working dinner. Adam is the Chief Responsible Investment Officer (CRIO) of the Church of England Pensions Board & Chair of the Transition Pathway Initiative (TPI). 

The Church of England Pensions Board, other investors, the United Nations and the ICMM have driven the creation of the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management and an independent body to assess conformity with that standard, the Global Tailings Management Institute.

As civil society organisations, our task was to warn them that they must look beyond corporate spin on tailings. We pointed out that in his speech to the mining indaba, he reported the urgency and willingness of the Minerals Council to map tailings. In fact, one news agency reported it thus:

“Matthews said the Minerals Council SA’s initiative to start mapping at-risk tailings facilities in South Africa, as a prelude to finding ways to address these risks, was to be welcomed. Hopefully it will encourage other countries to do the same.”

We have been searching for allies in this endeavour, and the Minerals Council have not raised their hand. We continue to insist that there can be no solution in tailings without the mining affected communities. 

Finally, we pointed out that we have engaged the CSIR (unsuccessfully) and are currently seeking a meeting with the Department of Water and Sanitation. Our express intention is to map the tailings facilities in South Africa, starting with those potentially most hazardous to mining communities.

During the close of the evening amidst dessert, they asked us what mining will look like in 2030. The same, we said, as there seems to be no appetite to share the wealth and remove the oppressive conditions, including the lack of real voice that would be listened to for and from the poor and marginalised in the mining sector: the mining communities. Show us one mining community that has made way for mining that is better off? There was no reply. That is how the meeting ended.

One of Africa’s greatest: Chinua Achebe

We celebrate this great writer by inviting you to watch two videos. When Achebe was very young, he had already written two novels Things Fall Apart and No Longer At Ease.

The Novel takes Africa as its starting point but, ironically, the title – and I guess the theme – was taken from Irish writer and poet W.B Yeats who in his poem “The Second Coming” wrote:

Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.

In this broadcast by Nigerian TV, Chinua Achebe is interviewed by Lewis Nkosi and Wole Soyinka. They speak about the book and its origins. Astonishingly at least for me, I recall Achebe saying that Things Fall Apart was written straight. No draft. There it was done and dusted. Come to think of it, he was only 28 when he wrote the book in 1958.

And when he was in his twilight years celebrating 50 years of the publication, Achebe reflected on how Africans had to tell their own stories. In this interview with Jeffrey Brown (PBS) originally aired May 27, 2008, Achebe discusses Africa’s ongoing story. He discusses the religion of the foreigners and the power of fiction to tell the truth of our situation. Things Fall Apart is a part of the human story and that is why we are attracted to it.

Today, he boasts of other great writings such as Arrow of God, No Longer at Ease, A Man of the People, Ant Hills of the Savannah, There Was A Country; and a handful of children’s writings.When Achebe died on 21 March 2013 our founding president Nelson Mandela’s foundation quoted him thus: “There was a writer named Chinua Achebe, who in the company of his books, I felt the prison walls at Robben Island fell down.” He ended with these words, which no one can argue against: Chinua Achebe was “the author who “brought Africa to the rest of the world”.

RESOURCES

DMRE Statement on the Suspected Deaths of 31 Illegal Miners in the Free State

The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) has received a report that at least 31 suspected illegal miners who are believed to be Basotho nationals, have lost their lives in a ventilation Shaft 5 Virginia mine, in Welkom, Free State province.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Relations of the Kingdom of Lesotho relayed this message to the High Commission of South Africa that, on 18 May 2023, a group of suspected illegal miners died in a mine ventilation shaft which was last operational in the 1990s.

Although information on this tragic situation comes sporadically, we are doing our utmost best to act on the information, including information regarding three (3) bodies which have been reported to be retrieved and brought to the surface by other illegal miners.

Working in collaboration with the previous owners of the mine, Harmony, the DMRE inspectors have assessed the situation and determined that methane levels at the mine ventilation shaft 5 are very high. As such, it is currently too risky to dispatch a search team to the shaft. However, we are considering various options to speedily deal with the situation. 

Although this is a unique and strange situation, all relevant stakeholders will endeavour to ensure that the suspected deceased illegal miners are brought to the surface.

 Resource on Climate Whistleblowers A climate whistleblower is a person who discloses information about abuses that exacerbate the climate crisis in order to protect the environment and public health. CW protects individuals who expose wrongdoings that worsen the climate crisis and helps them have a greater impact.

Moses Cloete serves as the editor at large of this edition. Unless otherwise indicated the writing and presentation of the Bulletin is by Hassen Lorgat. Marta Garrich helped with additional editing and layout of the newsletter. Simo Gumede is responsible for the members and partners database management. Photo credit in the header: Atlanta Black Star.

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Just over two years ago, the Executive Director of the Bench Marks Foundation as part of Church and Mining met with the Pope. Their concern was the power and conduct of the Chief Executive Offices (CEOs) and Corporations in general. Reflecting back we ask: Has anything changed?

Message of Pope Francis the Mining for the Common Good- Vatican City 3rd May Mining CEO’s and Church representatives (original article dated 9th May 2019)“Economic powers continue to justify the current global system where priority tends to be given to the pursuit of financial gain, which fail to take the context into account the effects on human dignity and the natural environment”. Vatican statement, 2019 – Pope Francis.
It is often said that the best kept secrets of the Catholic Church are the social teachings going back to 1892. The social teachings touch on economics, political environment, the ecological crisis and global warming and of course the poor, marginalised and those most vulnerable. The central message of the social teachings is always the integral development of the human person, human dignity, solidarity, subsidiarity and a meaningful existence and that production should be at the service of people and not vice versa.
The latest social teaching, called Laudato Si’, a papal encyclical, of the Catholic Church was put to 30 mining CEO’s and to 30 church leaders, coordinated by Cardinal Turkson, of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development of the Holy See. Representatives from across the world attended, including South Africa.

This all begun in 2013 when Anglo Americans CEO Mark Cutifani along with other mining CEO’s approached the Holy See asking for direction due to the bad image of mining globally. This resulted in UK, South Africa, and Latin American countries having their own Church and mining dialogues. Mining was told to promote the common good and meaningful existence.
It seems mines want to gain some legitimacy but simultaneously are faced with the problem of communities who no longer want mining. Communities bear the biggest impacts, from health to livelihoods destroyed. At the meeting, the Latin American Church and Mining Network put on a full display photo of 189 people killed in the Vale tailings dam disaster in Brazil that could have been avoided.
But it was up to Pope Francis who addressed the gathering to clearly give the meeting direction. He welcomed the dialogue then relayed this message to the participants. Speaking about the fierce and savage nature of the capitalism he said, “The precarious condition of our common home has been the result largely of a fallacious economic model that has been followed too long. It is a voracious model, profit orientated, short-sighted, and based on the misconception of unlimited economic growth. This insatiable, unquenchable and uncontrollable greedy model of the present economic system was challenged, calling on all to do something. Stating that although we frequently see the disastrous impacts on the natural world and in the lives of people, we are still resistant to change. “Economic powers continue to justify the current global system where priority tends to be given to the pursuit of financial gain, which fail to take the context into account the effects on human dignity and the natural environment”.

He went on to say that the market itself cannot guarantee integral human development and that environmental protection cannot be assured solely on the basis of financial calculations of costs and benefits. “We need a paradigm shift in all our economic activities, including mining. Mining like all economic activities, should be at the service of the entire human community” and that “consensus should always be reached between the different stakeholders, who can offer a variety of approaches, solutions and alternatives. And that the involvement of the local community is important at every phase of mining project.” “The local population should have special place at the table” going on to say that communities are concerned about their own future and that of their children, “and can consider goals transcending immediate economic interests.” Thus, reinforcing the right to say no and the rights to say yes to alternative forms of development.
On indigenous communities, Pope Francis went on to say, that “they are not merely one minority among many, but should be the principal dialogue partners, especially when large projects effecting their land are proposed. These vulnerable communities have a lot to teach us.” “For them land is not a commodity but rather a gift from God and from their ancestors, who rest there, a sacred space with which they need to interact if they are to maintain their identity and values”. Stating that these are fragile communities and pressure is being put on them to abandon their homelands to make space for mining which is undertaken without regard for the degradation of nature and culture.

Emphasising respect for the fundamental human rights and the voices of these communities, stating that mining should be at the service of the human person and not vice versa and that these rights of communities are sacred and inalienable.” Stating that mere corporate social responsibility is not sufficient.
“By ‘extractivism’ we understand an unbridled tendency of the economic system to convert goods into capital” going on to say that extracting the greatest amount of materials in the shortest space of time and converting them into products that others will market and use but where nature will receive in the form of polluting waste is a consumerist loop that is being generated at ever greater speed and ever greater risk. Pope Francis went on to denounce this throw away culture and stating that we need circular model of production capable of preserving resources for present and future generations. Again, emphasising that we need to limit as much as possible the use of non-renewable resources, moderating consumption, maximising their efficiency. Pope Francis position was that we need a circular economy, an economy of proximity, whereby local economies develop strongly, but with moderation, emphasising recycling and reuse, being vital to save our common home, the earth.

Ending he quoted bishops from Latin America, that you may “analyse, interpret and discern what are appropriate or inappropriate extractive activities in the territories; then propose, plan, and act to transform our way of life, to influence the mining and energy policies of states and government and that of companies dedicated to extractivism all for the purpose of achieving the common good and genuine human development that is integral and sustainable.” Once again stating that the concern is the future of our common good, the future of our children, and future generations. “We need to see that what is at stake is our common dignity. Leaving an inhabitable planet to future generations is, first and foremost, up to us.”

Whether this message got through to the mining companies present is doubtful, as their economic model flies in the face of the common good. Pope Francis message that communities should be the first at the table and his challenge of the present economic model to put people first is a huge challenge to an industry focused on short term financial gains, but at a cost to wellbeing of people and the natural environment.
The latest encyclical talks to all of us, but especially the extractivist industry. Pope Francis emphasis on going beyond corporate social responsibility, saying much more is needed and that ultimately mining companies need a paradigm shift; that they need to listen to civil society and communities and alternatives; learn from indigenous peoples who take care of the land; and emphasising strongly the centrality of local impacted communities in decision making. Often citing the sustainable development goals of the United Nations. “Respect for fundamental human rights of the members of local communities and those who champion their causes are indeed non-negotiable principles”. This was the key message delivered by Pope Francis in Rome to 30 mining CEO’s and Church leaders, including activist church groupings on mining.

However, six years have passed since the first discussions and although we hear some ramblings about change and listening by the industry, they have not yet fully internalised the messages given to them. Given global heating, water pollution, net biodiversity loss, the rapacious nature of the present economic model, and time running out, so much has to be done in such a short time frame. But mining short-termism approach and the global catastrophe means we all face a huge challenge to bring change now.

We thus challenge Anglo American, De Beers, Anglo Gold Ashanti and all present to concretely in every phase of mining project to involve communities, and civil society organisations who offer a variety of alternatives, solutions, and approaches, as well as respecting community’s right to say no and the right to self-determine their destinies.

Nevertheless, there are things the industry could do now. We need to level the playing field between mines and communities, by addressing skewed power relations. Concretely, this means the industry should support the Bench Marks and civil society initiative instrument, called the Independent Capacity building Fund (IFC) that addresses skewed power relations, allowing communities more knowledge and informed decision making. Secondly, to adopt the civil society supported Independent Problem Solving Service using impartial facilitators to resolve conflicts that lead to developmental outcomes. “Dialogue is not possible in an unequal power relationship” and that “Dialogue amongst equals opens ways to solutions.” This is how legitimacy is attained. Only when mines fully engage with fragile communities in ways that allow negotiations between equals will engagements like this bear any fruit and perhaps lead to an economic model that is fairer, equitable, respectful of human dignity and human rights and not harmful to the natural world.

John Capel- Executive Director Bench Marks Foundation

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A Programme of Action in the time of COVID-19

A call for social solidarity in South Africa

We, as civic organizations, trade unions, organizations of informal workers, faith-based organizations and community structures in South Africa, call on all people, every stakeholder and sector, to contain infection, reduce transmission and mitigate the social and political impacts of the COVID-19 virus.

Government retains a critical role in coordinating actions and distributing resources, yet its efforts will not be enough if we do not hold it to account and commit to a broad, bottom-up, public effort at this time. In a society as unequal as ours, we must work together to ensure that all safety measures are shared equitably.

We have a particular duty to safeguard those who are most vulnerable, those who are already living with hunger, weakened immune systems and poor access to health care. Greater restrictions and shutdowns are coming, but they will only work if full support is provided to working class and poor communities. Drastic measures are needed if we are to avoid disaster. Each of us must act now.  

Acknowledging other statements coming from fellow movements and organizations, we put forward the following Programme of Action for all of us to work towards in the coming days.

Income security for all
In order for people to remain at home there must be income security for all. Employers must continue to pay salaries or grant sick leave while employees are restricted to their homes, and where continued salaries are impossible government must provide workers with income protection for wages lost during the pandemic. There must be a moratorium on retrenchments during this time. Self-employed, casual workers and those whose income is suspended at this time must be supported by government to prevent job-seeking movement and provide income security. The social grant system must be extended to ensure the direct transfer of cash to households during this precarious time. All defaults on mortgage and debt repayments during this time must be non-consequential. All evictions and removals must be banned. As Labour has proposed, a bold stimulus package will be required in the coming period. These measures must be developed in consultation with poor and working-class formations.
All households, residential institutions, the homeless and the informally housed must have easy access to sanitation, especially water and safe ablution facilities.
There must be an immediate opening of restricted water meters, mass-provision of safe water access points with unconstrained flow in areas where there is limited household access to water, and mass-distribution of safe ablution facilities to informal settlements. All of these sanitation points must have access to soap and/or sanitizer and information on the prevention of the virus.
All households, residential institutions, the homeless and the informally housed must have access to food
If we are to stay at home during this time, access to nutritious food is fundamental. The absence of the School Nutrition Programm is devastating. A coordinated and safe roll-out of food packages directly to distribution points in food-stressed neighborhoods must be implemented. Failing that, the child support grant must be augmented. Support for locally-organized food systems must be strengthened.
Essential private facilities must be appropriated for public use to provide a unified and fair distribution of essential goods and services to allNational resources need to be focused and deployed in order to combat the epidemic. Essential services – health centres, food services, water and sanitation etc. – should be identified for urgent support and extension. This may require the conversion of factories and other places of production to produce sanitiser, protective clothing, water tanks, soap, food parcels, ventilators and other essential medical equipment. Essential private facilities must be made available for public use to provide a unified and fair distribution of essential goods and services to all. It requires that the public and private health systems need to be regarded as one national health system and coordinated in the national and public interest, also through state appropriation if necessary, as Spain recently demonstrated. Finances may have to be mobilized through unconventional means such as compulsory national bonds or loans, reforms to tax structures and others. Exported food might need to be redistributed locally. Regulations on price hikes should be implemented.
Community self-organization and local action is critical, as it our representation in national coordination
Civic organizations, community structures, trade unions and faith-based organizations will be extremely important in organizing on the ground during this emergency. We must all take action where we are. Civic structures must be engaged, supported and given representation on the National Command Council. The distribution of reliable information, essential services and care for our people will require a massive coordinated effort from community leaders and structures. Volunteers must be trained and organized for safe, coordinated, campaigns at street-level and for those living in institutions. Middle-class and wealthy communities and organizations have an obligation to make resources available to poor and working-class communities.
Community Health Workers must be insourced trained and supported and, along with other frontline health and emergency services workers, must have access to the resources necessary to safely and effectively contain the virus
The 70 000 Community Health Workers are the outreach arms of our health. If they and other frontline health workers and emergency services workers are to provide the community services required during this time, they must all have access to reliable information, safety and protective gear, and the testing and other resources for effective containment of the virus.
We must identify strategies to calm tensions and divert violence in our homes
Home-based quarantine will escalate family and relationship tensions, and will likely lead to more violence against women, children and others most marginalized in our families and communities including LGBTI people and foreign nationals. We need to identify strategies to calm tensions and divert violence in our homes and communities over this time. We need a strong education campaign against all forms of violence, especially domestic violence. We need to strengthen safe responses from existing neighborhood, regional and national organizations supporting women and children. This includes extending access to helplines for domestic violence, mental health, easing referral systems to shelters, and resourcing shelters to keep them open, functional and safe in the time of the virus.
Communication must be free, open and democratized
There must be an immediate distribution of free data to all, so that people are able to receive good information, contact loved ones during isolation and quarantine, and understand the measures that are in place to create safety. Access to the best international research should be free and public. There must be daily national press conferences from government leaders alongside scientists and professionals who can keep all of our people informed about the emerging situation.
The inequalities within our educational services need to be carefully considered, and mitigated, when moving to remote learningData and free website content must be made widely available to educational institutions for continued learning. However, there is massive inequality of access to resources such as computers, electricity, WiFi and learning space, as well difficult home situations that disproportionately affect poor and working-class learners, students and educators. The move to online learning should be made carefully, and as a temporary measure. We should not extend the inequalities in the education system by affording remote education to the few. Schools and universities should consider their collective role as community educators and developers facing an unprecedented shared experience. Schools, residences and dormitories should be understood as a public resource during this time, including for the safe distribution of food and other essential services interrupted by school closures.
We must prevent a nationalist, authoritarian and security-focused approach in containing the virus
We must guard against the easy deployment of military and police to create security in our communities. We must also prevent against creating scapegoats to blame for the current crisis. Instead we must ensure that care and resources are provided for the safety and protection of all who live in our country and in our communities.

How each of us responds to the COVID-19 pandemic will determine who we are as a society. The better we respond now, the better we will be after the pandemic. We must follow international best practice and the science that we have available to us to build an assertive response that works for the context of our own history and society. Our response must be just, equitable, and re-distributive if we are to meet the needs of all our people. In times of physical distancing, social solidarity is key.

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Civil society organizations sounded the alarm when mining was declared an essential service in South Africa during the country’s lockdown. They feared the congregate nature of the work would put miners and mining-affected communities at particular risk of Covid-19. Now that the vaccination rollout has begun, these organizations have demanded a detailed plan on how government and business will make good on the vaccination promises.

Six civil society organisations have voiced their concern that there is no concrete and specific plan to vaccinate mineworkers and mining-affected communities.

However, the Minerals Council – which represents most mining companies in South Africa – says its plan is to support the government’s strategy.

According to the council, there are 385 mines in South Africa with 506,220 employees. Of these, 1,899 employees and contractors and 880 “community members” have received their first Pfizer dose. As of 15 June, 36,476 mining sector employees had tested positive for Covid-19 and 422 had died.

Government and the Minerals Council have in the past acknowledged that the mining sector is an essential service. Both have committed to vaccinating mineworkers and mining-affected communities, yet there is no official plan to vaccinate them, according to ActionAid South Africa, Bench-Marks Foundation, the Centre for Applied Legal Studies, Lawyers for Human Rights, the Legal Resources Centre and the Right2Protest Project.

They addressed an open letter to the presidency, the ministry of mineral resources and energy, the ministry of health and the Minerals Council stating their concerns and demanding a concrete action plan.

In the letter, they pointed out that government and the council had committed to vaccinating these communities using the healthcare infrastructure of the mines and at the cost of the mining industry.

They await a formal response to this letter, according to Robert Krause, an environmental justice researcher at the Centre for Applied Legal Studies, and Lauren Nell, an attorney at the Legal Resources Centre.

In January 2021, the Minerals Council offered financial and logistical support for the government’s rollout.

The mining sector could carry out 60,000 vaccinations per day at a cost of R300-million, said Dr Thuthula Balfour, head of health at the Minerals Council. Balfour added that mining companies have the ability to vaccinate 2.25 million people in mining-affected communities.

Council CEO Roger Baxter told Business Maverick the mining sector “could help vaccinate as many as three million people”. At the February 2021 Mining Indaba, President Cyril Ramaphosa said he was “immensely encouraged” by these offers.

“Given these offers and promises, we ask at the time of the attempts to massify the rollout, where is the action? Where are the bottlenecks? Who is responsible for the delays in rolling out the programme for saving lives?” the organisations asked.

Mineworkers and mining-affected communities are more at risk of contracting Covid-19 than the general population, says Krause. The nature of minework makes physical distancing near impossible and ventilation is poor, creating the conditions for Covid-19 to spread easily and quickly.

This is evident in the fact that higher infection numbers have been observed in municipalities which are mining centres in comparison to comparable municipalities in the same province, explains Krause.

For example, 49% of North West’s caseload was in the Bojanala platinum district, despite only 17% of the province’s population living there.

In addition, mining-affected communities often lack access to water, which makes Covid-19 protocols such as frequent hand-washing impossible for many, he says. In some mining areas, workers live in a community with their spouses, parents and other relatives.

Furthermore, air pollution associated with mining has already left communities vulnerable to respiratory illness, he says. This is the case in Mpumalanga, where pollution from coal-fired power stations close to coal mines is causing serious health problems for children.

In addition, these communities often live in peri-urban and rural areas where healthcare facilities are scarce, said Nel.

“Mineworkers and mine-affected communities need to be consulted regarding this issue,” said Nel.

From civil society’s perspective, it is unreasonable to place individuals at risk for profit for the mines. The mines need to place pressure on the government to provide a plan as well as vaccines. The Minerals Council and the mines they represent wield power and thus this should be used to place pressure for a plan to be done and implemented as a matter of urgency.

“During discussions with the Minerals Council, the issues of procurement and placing pressure on government to hasten vaccinations have been confused. We are calling for pressure to be placed on government.”

The Minerals Council is not aware of the letter but will “continue to engage” with the organisations, according to its spokesperson Charmane Russell.

The council is “surprised” by the letter “as our channels of communication are always open”. Russell said the council had a meeting with the six organisations a week earlier to brief them on the status of the vaccination rollout and the constraints it faced.

Nel confirmed that the council addressed some of the group’s concerns. However, it awaits a formal response.

The council is committed to the national vaccination programme and has worked closely with Business for South Africa to support this programme, it said in a statement on 3 June 2021.

There are 55 mining sites which have applied to register as vaccination sites and another 76 as “secondary sites”. These sites will be able to vaccinate 443,000 employees. So far, five sites have received permits from the department of health. One is administering vaccines currently.

“The timing of permitting and the provision of vaccines is in the hands of the department of health in what we understand to be a very vaccine-constrained environment. It is expected that good progress will start to be made in the third quarter when more vaccines become available,” said Russell.

Workplace vaccination in the mining industry will follow the national strategy of vaccinating based on age. The industry will have its own “vaccination registration process” integrated with the government’s Electronic Vaccine Data System. Companies will be able to bulk upload employee information and schedule vaccination appointments at their mine-based sites.

“The Minerals Council has confirmed the industry’s intention to support the vaccination of employees and community members, and is engaging with the authorities on how this can best be done, either through vaccination centres or in-kind support.”

The presidency, ministry of mineral resources and energy and the ministry of health did not respond to Maverick Citizen’s request for comment on the letter or the plan to vaccinate mineworkers and mining-affected communities. DM/MC

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As Covid-19 spreads rapidly around the country, even during the government-mandated lockdown, all classes are affected. It is, however, abundantly clear that poor and working people are the most affected and will continue to bear the brunt of the five-week lockdown.

Hassen Lorgat of the Bench Marks Foundation spoke to Salaamedia’s Azhar Vadi on the Alternative View this morning about the effects of the virus and the lockdown on the impoverished classes.

“Many already have respiratory diseases and infections in mining areas such as Riverlea due to the pollution,” said Lorgat. “Undoubtedly, their pre-existing illnesses, coupled with inadequate healthcare, will result in many of these individuals being extremely susceptible to the coronavirus.”

“There is tension between livelihood and lives,” Lorgat stated, “and mining is being prioritized over quality of life.”

Mines on the West Coast are still operational amidst the outbreak and lockdown, with minimal oversight which places the workers at an even higher risk. The structural inequality that pervades these areas is only deepened by the Covid-19 pandemic, he said.

A vast majority of the mining towns are several hours away from cities, making it incredibly difficult for those who live there to seek help. According to Lorgat, life in these towns is already precarious and the lockdown will most certainly entrench this.

“The Department of Water and Sanitation has thus far delivered 41 000 water tankers to poverty-stricken areas. Mining towns, however, will require even more water from the government as mining companies often pollute the water supply in these areas. The water is often poor in quality, intermittent in supply, and discoloured.”

With the coronavirus placing millions of immunocompromised people at risk, and the lockdown suspending the incomes of the majority of the country, the poor and working class are – and will continue to be – deeply affected by this catastrophe.

Featured image by Media Club via Daily Maverick. 

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