Kimberley – Pan-Africanist and revolutionary socialist party, Black First Land First (BLF), has reiterated its support for hundreds of artisanal miners who are expected to embark on a march to the Northern Cape offices of the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) on Wednesday morning, to hand over a memorandum demanding the right to legally mine the floors in and around the city.
Established companies in the local diamond industry and hundreds of informal miners are currently embroiled in an ongoing legal dispute, with Kimberley Ekapa Mining Joint Venture (KEMJV), among others, demanding an end to the small-scale operations and the illegal occupation of private property.
This while the artisanal miners remain adamant that South Africa’s mineral resources are the property of the people.
“The BLF supports the march to the Department of Mineral Resources and Economic Affairs in Kimberley,” said BLF deputy president, Zanele Lwana, on Tuesday.
“We will be participating in this march and we call on all the progressive forces, including the youth, women, students and worker organisations, to do the same.”
Lwana stated that the artisanal miners were the only politically legitimate black miners in the country because they were able to earn a living wage within a “white supremacist system of governance”.
“The BLF notes that none of the political parties, nor the workers movement in general, have historically stood in solidarity with the struggle of the zama zamas,” she emphasised.
The march will start at the informal settlement, along Samaria Road, at 9am.