There is no end in sight to the coal mining war in northern KwaZulu-Natal, which has pitted members of the rural community against each other.
At the heart of the tension and hostility is a desire by Tendele Coal Mining, owned by Petmin, to extend its operations at the Somkhele coal mine in Mtubatuba, about 85km northwest of Richards Bay.
Petmin is South Africa’s largest producer of high quality metallurgical anthracite and the earmarked expansion cuts close to the historic Umfolozi River.
For the mine to begin its work, several households need to be relocated because their houses sit on the mineral wealth buried under their ancestral soil.
The coal deposits at Somkhele mine are depleted, and mine bosses want to break new ground.
While some residents have accepted compensation by the minerals group, other families have refused, saying they want to continue farming and preserve the graves of their forefathers.
Skhumbuzo Gumbi, a staunch anti-mining activist, told Sunday World that threats against residents who are against the mine’s expansion have intensified.
“Since the court judgment, the situation has been severe and volatile. [Occupants of] unidentified vehicles, believed to be hitmen, are driving by and firing random shots at people’s houses and hurling insults. Some families have had their homes set alight because they are viewed as a hindrance to what the mining bosses want,” said Gumbi.
He added that some families have fled the area because of the tense atmosphere.
This weekend, the mining company and officials from the Department of Minerals and Energy were expected to facilitate an engagement with the community to gauge its views on whether the mine should be given consent for the expansion. The public participation process follows a judgment by the Pretoria High Court, which interdicted the expansion of the operations and the granting of the mining licence on the grounds that it is unlawful.
Judge Noluntu Bam ordered that the public participation process should start from scratch and involve all residents directly affected by the mine.
In a letter seen by this newspaper, environmental group Mfolozi Community Environmental Justice Organisation, which has been at the centre of opposing the mine’s expansion, details coercion, threats and scare tactics by the traditional leadership.
“We cannot stress how real the threats in this area are, with the murder of our client Mam’Fikile Ntshangase in October 2020 very much in our minds, due to her opposition to the mining operations… Many of our other clients have received threats in person and by cellphone messages, and have been told there is a hit list,” said attorney Kirsten Youens in the letter directed to KwaZulu-Natal’s top cops Major-General Bheki Langa and provincial commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.
Youens said that one of the residents recounted how terrified he was after being visited by a known hitman in the village, with a warning to desist in his opposition to the mine.
Thulani Msane, a community leader and proponent of the expansion, came out gun blazing, saying that the stance by environmental groups would drive locals to a life of poverty.
“This is a small group of wealthy white environmentalists who are well funded. They want to take the jobs from the people who own the land.
“They are not providing alternative employment opportunities for those employed by the mine.”
The mine owners say the extension of the mine’s life will contribute billions to the economy, including procurement opportunities for locals.
This includes about R2.5-billion in taxes and mining royalties.
Ntshangase, whose murder remains unresolved, was killed by assassins at her home in the village of Ophondweni in front of her young grandson.
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