Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa has quietly given the green light to a controversial Indian mining company to start an underground coal mine in an extensive protected environment in Mpumalanga, located within the headwaters of three of South Africa’s major rivers.
Molewa’s decision in August was revealed in a letter Atha-Africa Ventures sent to Minister of Water and Sanitation Nomvula Mokonyane last month to petition her to waive its suspension of its water-use licence for its Yzermyn mine near Wakkerstroom, pending the outcome of an appeal application by the Centre for Environmental Rights (CER).
Now the battle over the future of the Mabola Protected Environment looks set to be decided in the Constitutional Court.
In 2014, the Mpumalanga government declared the Mabola Protected Environment in terms of the National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act because its rare grassland habitat is the source of three major rivers – the Vaal, Tugela and Pongola.
Provincial conservation authorities describe how the region is home to “irreplaceable” and “optimal critical biodiversity areas”, and has been classified as a Strategic Water Source Area, a National Freshwater Ecosystem Priority Area and an Aquatic Critical Biodiversity Area.
Nevertheless, last year, the mining company, which reportedly has links to relatives of President Jacob Zuma, secured an environmental licence from the Mpumalanga government, a mining licence and a water-use licence.
“On January 31 it came to our attention that by November 21, the ministers of mineral resources and of environmental affairs gave approval for commercial mining to take place inside the protected environment under the Protected Areas Act,” said Melissa Fourie, executive director of the CER.
“We had asked the ministers for an opportunity to make representations as to why this approval should not be granted, but no such opportunity was granted, and there is no sign that our submissions and objections were considered.”
Allowing commercial mining inside a declared protected area “sets a terrifying precedent for the protection of our protected areas. For these reasons, our instructions are to use every legal tool to prevent this mine from proceeding, even if we have to take this to the Constitutional Court,” Fourie said.
Molewa’s decision was a “calamity”, she added.
The CER is representing a coalition of non-profit civil society and community groups: Earthlife Africa Johannesburg, the Mining and Environmental Justice Community Network of SA, the Endangered Wildlife Trust, BirdLife South Africa, the Federation for a Sustainable Environment, the Bench Marks Foundation, the Association for Water and Rural Development, and groundWork.
Both ministers state, in the document, that mining activity “will not compromise the management objectives of the Mabola Protected Environment” and that South Africa’s mining and biodiversity guidelines “support the development of the country’s resources in a manner that will minimise the impact of mining on the country’s biodiversity and ecosystem services”.
Yesterday, WWF-SA described Molewa’s decision as one of “deep concern” that came despite several years of effort during which WWF collaborated extensively with provincial authorities towards achieving the common goal of the Department of Environmental Affairs targets for national protected areas. “It’s therefore puzzling that within 18 months of its declaration, the protections that were afforded to Mabola are now being eroded.”
Angus Burns, a senior manager of WWF-SA’s land and biodiversity stewardship programme, agreed.
“In the middle of a drought, if there was ever a reason to doubt the need for a water-thirsty mine, surely logic dictates that this is now,” he said.