Xolobeni: AmaDiba Crisis Committee & Legal Resources Centre respond to Minister Shabangu on Transkei titanium rights.

The Legal Resources Centre, Grahamstown

Media Release

Xolobeni: AmaDiba Crisis Committee response to DMR

Tuesday 14 June 2011

On behalf of the AmaDiba Crisis Committee (ACC) the Legal Resources Centre (LRC) has urged the Minister of Minerals and Energy, Susan Shabangu, to notify Transworld Energy and Minerals (TEM) to submit a new application and follow processes mandated by the MPRDA, should it still wish to pursue a mining right in the Xolobeni area of the Eastern Cape.

Responding to Shabangu’s recent decision to cancel TEM’s mining right issued in 2008, Sarah Sephton of the LRC said; “In the circumstances, we call on you to notify TEM that its original application is of no force and effect and that it must submit a fresh application if it is still inclined to pursue the mining right.

“In any event, the MPRDA requires that information submitted in support of an application must be current and correct. In the absence of up-to-date information, the Department cannot properly satisfy itself that the requirements of section 24 of the MRPDA have been met. TEM’s application was submitted during 2007 and the information contained therein is outdated.”

While Shabangu conceded that the decision to grant the mining right was taken when several environmental issues were still outstanding, she directed TEM to submit ‘such further’ information within three months of the date of her letter.

“The ACC does not accept that TEM took all proper steps to consult with interested and affected parties. In this regard, they persist in the allegations set out in the internal appeal documents,” Sephton said.

Furthermore, Shabangu in her decision, failed to consider and determine the community’s challenge to the grant on the grounds that mining can not take place in the Xolobeni area at all because:

The proposed mine encroaches on a Marine Protected Area, where mining is completely prohibited;
No authorisation has been obtained from the national and provincial department of environmental affairs and, to the contrary, they have indicated their opposition to the grant of the mining right;
The proposed mining area is reserved for a public purpose under section 48 of the MPRDA and;
No community resolution has been obtained, as required by section 2 of the Interim Protection of Informal Land Rights Act 31 of 1996.

Mining in this area will cause unacceptable pollution, ecological degradation and damage to the environment and the mining right accordingly cannot be granted in terms of section 23 (1) (d) of the MPRDA.

Xolobeni is the traditional homeland of the AmaDiba people and they have occupied the area for centuries.  The area is also part of the Pondoland region acknowledged to be one of the most important centres of plant diversity in South Africa. Since the land is registered in the name of the State, the AmaDiba community is deemed to be the co-owner of the land.

The LRC has been acting on behalf of the ACC and Xolobeni community since 2 September 2008 when the Grahamstown office of the LRC filed an appeal with the Minister of Minerals and Energy requesting that she suspends and then appeals the decision, signed by the Regional Manager of the Eastern Cape, to award a mining right to TEM.

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NOTE: For more information, please contact the LRC’s Sarah Sephton, on 046 622 9230 or Khumbulani Mpofu at khumbulani@lrc.org.za or 011 836 6601.
You can also contact the ACC’s Mzamo Dlamini on 072 194 0949 or Sinegugu Zukulu on 073 206 2429.
The LRC is an independent, non-profit, public interest law clinic, which uses law as an instrument of justice to provide legal services for the vulnerable.