Mining-related violence: Plea for govt intervention
An environmental justice organisation says judging from what is happening in some South African rural communities, mining by local and international companies is becoming problematic.
Director of Groundwork, Bobby Peek says after a mine opened in Somkhele in rural KZN people there are getting sick and crops have stopped growing.
Peek says they are currently trying to avoid the same thing from happening in the KZN village of Fuleni as well as the Eastern Cape area of Xolobeni where mining has been proposed.
In Xolobeni on the Wild Coast, anti-mining activist Sikhosiphi Radebe was killed last month.
He'd been opposing an Australian company's plans to mine titanium in the area.
Speaking after a press briefing by environmental organisations at UKZN's Howard College campus yesterday, Peek said government needs to intervene.
"With all the violence against mining communities in South Africa, it is very clear the South African government has to reconsider what they do with regards to mining in the future because mining is killing people.
"We are obviously seeing the deaths in Xolobeni, Marikana, and threats in Samkele and Fuleni. This thing is rife in South Africa but also a global reality," he said.
(File photo)