MACUA Denounces the Excessive Use of Violence by The South African Police Service Against the Bakwena Ba Mogopa Community Protesting at Glencore’s Rhovan Vanadium Mine
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE| 17 May 2024
This afternoon, the Bethanie SAPS in conjunction with the Public Order Policing Unit under Brits, North West, came to instruct the protesting Bakwena Ba Mogopa community members to disperse within 30 minutes because Glencore had apparently obtained a court interdict against the community from blocking the road.
The police officers subsequently destroyed the camping tents and fired rubber bullets towards the unarmed and non-violent community members who are protesting against the injustice suffered by the community at the hands of Glencore’s Rhovan Vanadium Mine. It is important to note that the community live on the doorstep of the mine and the mine entrance is only a couple of streets away from community.
Early reports indicate that at least six people have been injured by the indiscriminate shooting of rubber bullets by the police. The situation is volatile and evolving quickly as the community is retaliating against the police’s use of brute force to quell the communities’ legitimate rights to protest. Onkarabile Donald Mahuma, is one of the injured and arrested community members. Mahuma described how five police officers fired rubber bullets towards him and subsequently arrested him. He is being kept at the Bethanie Police Station. The police deliberately deceived Mahuma’s family by claiming that he was unharmed, yet he was severely injured, and his arm was paralysed and he was seen limping as he was arrested.
This is not the first time that the police have used such dirty tactics. Last week, Mahuma, a community leader, was arrested on fabricated charges of kidnapping one of the security officers at Glencore, and upon MACUA and Right2Protest’s intervention, the police released him the following day without even appearing before the magistrate. Mahuma slept in a police cell last week yet he does not appear in any official police records. This is tantamount to kidnapping. The Police should not be doing the dirty work of rich mine owners by shooting and Kidnapping community leaders in order to keep the community poor and impoverished.
The Bakwena Ba Mogopa community, which has a 26% stake in Glencore’s Rhovan Operation, is demanding that the mine provide employment to the local youth, improvement of infrastructure like roads that Glencore’s heavy trucks damage on a daily basis, and most importantly, to provide a Social Labour Plan (SLP)— which they have been demanding for the past two years. Glencore has failed to consult the community and they continue to railroad the communities’ requests, and now demands.
MACUA strongly condemns the unwarranted use of violence against the Bakwena Ba Mogopa community. The SAPS’ disproportionate use of force is deeply concerning and underscores the way that mining affected communities are treated across the country and how mining affected communities are literally not regarded as worthy of being protected by the mining laws of this country.
We call on Glencore to stop their colonial attitude of baasskap and to recognise the right of the community to benefit from their own land.
We demand that Glencore comply with its mining licence and consult with the community on the SLP and to open its books to the community so that the community can see who they have been bribing and paying-off to look the other way as Glencore steals the communities’ wealth from under their feet.
We call on all political parties to prioritise the amendment of the MPRDA in the next Parliament so that this wanton colonial dispossession and exclusion can be stopped.
We call on the DMREW to do their job and immediately stop operations at the mine until they comply with their mining licence obligations.
We furthermore call for a thorough investigation into the matter in order to holding those responsible accountable for their actions. We urge for justice to prevail and for the protection and rights of the Bakwena Ba Mogopa community and the rights of all mining affected communities to be upheld without compromise.
For more information contact:
Magnificent Mndebele: 064 785 9746 (MACUA media & comms manager).
Andrew Mpshe: 079 615 1912 (Bakwena Ba Mogopa community representative).