Limpopo villagers resist removal by Anglo Platinum mine

Children living in Motlhlotlo village in Mogalakwena Municipality have had no transport to get to school since June. and several, not since the beginning of the school term in April because there is no transport entering the village, which is located 3 km from the main road.

Motlhlotlo village is one of the villages surrounding an Anglo American Platinum mine. Residents of the village claim that the mining company cut the transport services as a means to push them from the land. The transport was provided to the community by the mine. It is currently unclear how this arrangement started and what obligation to the community the mining company may have been fulfilling with the service.

Mining operations are taking place here, a stone’s throw away from where children are playing. When Elitsha arrived, five children were on swings, running around and laughing, at the foot of a tall mountain of rocks that make up part of the Anglo-American Platinum mine.

“We received letters from the mine saying that they were going to cut the scholar transport in March and that learners would not have transport when schools open. But we have not yet moved from the land, so how can they do this?”

Dorcas Mda (57) has been a resident since 1987, a time that she describes as different from today. She said that most of the children are learners at a school located in town, more than 20km away from the village. “The mine has been terrorising us for all these years that they have been trying to remove us from the land. We did not refuse moving from the land, but we still wanted to continue the discussions around where we are moving to and what will happen. And now they are pushing us out by eviction using force.”

She [Mda] pointed at the robot vehicle in the distance which she says has been there for days, surveilling and intimidating the members of the community that remain.

Empty classroom at Seritarita Secondary School. Learners were sent home due to schedule blasting taking place in the area.

“What does the mining company want? For our children to fail at school? And become uneducated like us?” Mda exclaimed.

Residents say that they received a court order that they were to be moved from the land to make way for the mine on the 14th of June. The letter stated that they have 30 days to move.

A consultation process that the mine carried out with community members over the years was not successful, nor, residents say, complete. The mine nonetheless has continued with violently evicting residents from the land, demolishing houses, and proceeding to mine the land anyway. The mine has been repeatedly accused of using manipulative, divisive, and violent tactics to cause uncertainty, confusion, and forced removals from the village.

Anglo-American ‘violence’

‘Our home was demolished.
I don’t know what the reason is.
I didn’t get a letter to inform me.
I did not sign anything.
The mine did not give me anything.’

“Our home was demolished. The material lies underneath the rubble that is in the mine. I don’t know what the reason is. I didn’t get a letter to inform me. I did not sign anything. The mine did not give me anything. How can I be moved with no consultation? I don’t know what the reasons are for the demolishing of my house,” said Caroline Mothwa (67).

Mothwa was born in Mothlohlo. She spoke with sadness about the demolition of her home last year in March. She added that private security returned in September to demolish houses that were in front of her home. That private security are given the power to demolish houses angers her. She has no material left to build a new home wherever she is moved to. Her family is now temporarily sheltering in a village nearby, scattered across several homes.

“We tried to open a case with the police but the police advised us against opening a case. But we want to know how it is possible that we can be moved with no help, no agreement, and no compensation to assist us to move. I have no house now. One of my grandchildren suffers from asthma already and it has been so difficult trying to survive,” she said.

‘If they do not give us the vouchers
then they need to remove
their rocks from our land.’

Elderly women in the village say that they were receiving food vouchers of R1,500 from the mine, which they were told was part of their compensation for the mine using the land that they were farming. It was unclear how long the mine had committed to provide the vouchers. They just stopped. “Our families are now going hungry because we have no food. The mine has stopped the food vouchers and we don’t know why, because we still need them. If they do not want to give us the vouchers then they need to remove their rocks from our land, and give it back to us so that we can use it to farm,” she said.

A letter written by Mothlohlo community members following the evictions that they experienced at the hands of the mining company, it reads:
“They [the mine] sent a sheriff on 14 June to give us letters as the community saying that we should leave our land. We are asking that President Cyril Ramaphosa comes to Mothlohlo. We are asking the chiefs to come. We are asking for Minister of Minerals, Mr Mantashe, to come. We are asking for the Department of Education to come…”

Mothwa said that she used to farm maize on the land and would harvest up to eight bags. Without the land to farm and the food vouchers from the mine, her family has sunk deeper into hunger and poverty.

A heavy security vehicle followed the Elitsha media team as we took a walk around the villages that surround the mine.

The issue of relocation of residents of this village has been ongoing since 2008. According to the resettlement guidelines set out by the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE), “a mining license holder or applicant who has the intention to move people from a certain area is obligated to consult meaningfully with affected parties by offering options that are practical and economically suitable.”

An attorney in the mining programme at the Centre of Environmental Rights (CER), Tarisai Mugunyani, unpacked more of what these guidelines mean for communities like Mothlohlo. The law is not centred on the consent of a community when a mining license is granted, she explained, but a process of consultation must take place to ensure that there are no human rights violations when the mining operations begin.

In consultation, community members are supposed to have the opportunity to ask questions, seek clarity, or to ask for more in terms of whatever the mine is intending to do,” explained Mugunyani. Mining companies are supposed to carry out ‘a social and labour plan’ to bring socio-economic benefits to the community that they operate in. Section 10 of the Mineral Resources, Petroleum and Development Act (MPRDA) states that the regional manager is required, within 14 days of accepting a mining right, prospecting right or mining permit, to make it known that such application has been accepted. Affected persons have to submit their comments regarding the application within 30 days from the date of the notice.

Sections 16, 22 and 27 of the MPRDA, furthermore require applicants for mining rights, prospecting rights and mining permits to consult with the landowner, lawful occupiers and any interested and affected parties and include the result of the consultation in the relevant environmental reports. Section 54 in the MPRDA makes provision for mediation and agreements between the community and landowners around benefits, compensations, and issues around relocation.

Community members sent an email to the office of the Department of Minerals and Resources to inform them that there was an active eviction taking place at the village last year in December, 2023, even though section 54 of the MPRDA had not been concluded nor adequately carried out. This is the response they received. There has been no further communication from the office since.

“However, today, with the current challenges we are seeing the communities are facing, some of these key elements are not being done. There are visible loopholes in the processes,” said Mugunyani. All voices need to be heard and all concerns taken into consideration when mining companies enter into settlement or relocation agreements with communities.

Anglo-American responds

Acting Head of Communications from Anglo-American, Keitumetse Masik said 900 households in Mothlohlo were resettled in new houses and only 11 households remained to complete the resettlement process. This took place over a period of more than 12 years, beginning in 2008. The mine claims that the agreements with the majority of the households were fair because they were consulted. However, consultations with the remaining 11 were unsuccessful and so was the mediation that followed on recommendation from the DMRE.

“It is with regret that we have reached this point. Given the circumstances, we can confirm that due legal process is being followed in terms of the Extension of Security of Tenure Act since it will no longer be viable for these households to remain there beyond the end of 2024,” reads the email response from the mine.

The mine stated that it is offering the remaining households temporary alternative accommodation and have been invited to engage with Anglo-American Platinum on a house design of their choice, which will be built at the cost of the mine.

The story will be updated once the Department of Mineral and Resources responds.