By Phyllia Ngoatje
Just over a week ago, on 17 July 2024, a representative from Aganang Sephaku Mine operating in the North West province said to the media that the community members engaging in ongoing protest action at their gate are not the legitimate voice of the community.
This is a classic example whereby Aganang Sephaku Mine continues to assert its arrogance and disrespect for local communities of Springbokpan, Bodibe and Verdwaal by referring to them as less than legitimate.
The Mining Affected Communities United in Action’s (MACUA) concerns arose at that point because, how can community members affected by Aganang Sephaku Mine’s operations be called anything less than a legitimate stakeholder?
This is a stark contradiction because it is their voices, directly, telling the mine that they are dissatisfied with the mine’s attitude towards them. Since 2021, MACUA branches in Springbokpan and Bodibe have consistently tried to engage with the mine, which has consistently failed to avail itself to hear the concerns and demands of the communities.
In 2022, MACUA released a Social Audit report which audited the Social Labour Plan (SLP) implementation by various mining companies operating in South Africa. The social audit report revealed that projects due to be implemented by Sephaku between 2017 and 2021 had not been implemented at all.
Furthermore, a project in the mine’s 2013 SLP to build a clinic for the Springbokpan was canvassed and found to be dysfunctional. It was nothing more than a structure which cannot be used for the purposes of medical assistance, leaving the community to rely on mobile clinics for services.
The SLP is a condition for a mining right and it is unconscionable for the mine to continue to operate unabated without complying with the prescripts of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA) of 2002.
The MPRDA clearly states that the purpose of extractive operations is to act as conduits for sustainable benefit for communities surrounded by their operations as well as those affected by their operations.
The MPRDA is crystally clear that “interested and affected parties” like MACUA-WAMUA are primary stakeholders for mining companies. Therefore, communities like Springbokpan, Bodibe and Verdwaal must be, according to the regulations, the first on the list of stakeholders that are to be consulted by mining companies.
If the community members living in Springbokpan, Bodibe and Verdwaal are not legitimate stakeholders, according to Aganang Sephaku Cement, then it seems untenable that the MPRDA would list communities as primary stakeholders. It is unjust for a company to neglect its core constituency in favour of representatives that have failed to raise the community’s grievances.
Aganang Sephaku initially committed to have a meeting with the community in June as well as on the 11 th and 17 th of July 2024 however, the mine has continuously shifted the goalpost and the meeting has not come to fruition. Actively denying the community members access to mine or create a platform for direct engagement with the mine.
As a social movement located in various communities and advocating for direct engagement as well as transparency, MACUA finds the temperament of the mine extremely problematic given their obligations to consult communities, engage ‘interested and affected parties’ and implement legally binding social and labour plans.
MACUA remains affirmative in its core values that, Nothing About Us, Without Us. We will continue to engage in ongoing strategies to hold the company accountable to its obligations.