Mining-affected communities made it known that they will march to the Union Buildings on Monday to hand over a memorandum and petitions to President Cyril Ramaphosa and Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe.
These South African communities are calling on the President to take swift actions to making sure their voice is heard and becomes central to mining-related legislation.
In a statement, the communities noted that the date for the march, October 12, was intentionally chosen as it coincides with the date the Eastern Cape Xolobeni community is due to ask the Pretoria North High Court to dismiss Mantashe’s appeal against the November 2018 Baleni (Xolobeni) judgment.
The Baleni judgement affirmed that communities must provide their consent before mining takes place on their land.
The communities said the judgement is in line with the principle of ‘free prior and informed consent’.
The community says the minister has failed to prosecute his appeal.
