An anti-mining activist who survived an attempted assassination four months ago may be in hiding, but he will continue to fight “violence and intimidation”.
The attack, in which a fellow activist died a month after a multibillion-rand mine application was rejected, came after another shooting in June, weeks before Indian industrial powerhouse Jindal Steel & Power launched a new bid to have its R30bn iron ore mine in Entembeni, near Melmoth, approved.
The mining giant’s initial plans to establish a R30bn opencast iron ore mine in northern KwaZulu-Natal were scuppered when its application for environmental authorisation was refused by the department of mineral resources & energy in February citing compliance concerns.
The project would uproot more than 300 families, exhume ancestral graves and endanger millions of rand worth of fruit farms in northern KwaZulu-Natal.
Mbhekiseni Mavuso survived a hit on March 31 which claimed the life of his travelling companion and fellow activist, Mbhekiseni Dladla, in Makhasaneni village.
Then on June 14, Sibusiso Hlongwane, who was among the activists vocal in opposing the mine, was gunned down in his village, Nkwalini.
Mavuso believes the motive for the deaths and attempted hit on him is the opposition to the mine.
We live in fear. If you are known to be against the mine, it’s very dangerous for you to be walking around at night.
— Resident Nkuz’ezonda imayini Zulu
“There is never proof, but one can connect the dots. We will continue to fight the violence and intimidation.”
He pointed to the murder of Fikile Ntshangase in October 2020. Ntshangase was a leader of the Mfolozi Community Environmental Justice Organisation, which opposed the Tendele opencast coal mine from further mining expansions in Somkhele, in Mtubatuba. He also cited the case of Sikhosiphi “Bazooka” Rhadebe who led a decade-long fight against a company trying to mine titanium in Xolobeni, in the Eastern Cape.
“With Ntshangase it was said she was killed because of a family feud and with Bazooka the official reason was taxi violence. There are always ‘official’ reasons, but history tells us these things always happen to people who go against the mining.”
Jindal has strongly denied any link to the attacks.
“All these baseless allegations are based on rumours and lies and we reject it completely,” said Shaitan Singh Chouhan, Jindal Africa’s project manager for the mine.
He confirmed the company had submitted a fresh application to the department in July.
Mavuso is not the first resident from Entembeni to voice fears against the Indian mining powerhouse.
Last April, resident Nkuz’ezonda imayini Zulu expressed similar reservations when 5,000 residents signed a petition against the mine.
“We live in fear. If you are known to be against the mine, it’s very dangerous for you to be walking around at night,” he told the Sunday Times.
Mavuso said Jindal had first set its sights on the area in 2011, but the community fought off those attempts and thought the matter was buried in 2016.
“We thought we had won this war: we fought it with our lawyers and government rejected them, but now they’ve come back even stronger.”
All Rise Attorneys, which previously assisted residents in opposing the mine, has begun preparations to fight the new bid.
“Having had a quick look at the contents of the draft scoping report, this is not going to be a difficult one to challenge. It is badly written and doesn’t comply with the reporting requirements for a scoping report prescribed in Appendix 2 of the EIA regulations, 2014,” said attorney Kirsten Youens.
They have until August 19 to submit their client’s comments while other landowners and lawful occupiers, on and adjacent to the site, will have 30 days from when they were notified in writing.
Youens said not all interested and affected parties had been notified.
In addition she said Tshifcor Investments & Resources, a new consulting agency representing Jindal in the latest bid, had placed public notices of the new bid in the Newcastle Advertiser, which is distributed about 300km away from eMthonjaneni.
However, Caroline Munyai of Tshifcor said they had placed notices in “local newspapers which are distributed widely in KZN, including Melmoth and Eshowe areas; the adverts were also placed in both English and isiZulu”.
She maintained all landowners on their records had been notified and were being consulted, and added that the process of information-sharing was still open to interested parties who wished to participate in the application process.
Mavuso maintains that the communities will again fight against the mine and were hoping for support from the Ingonyama Trust and the provincial government.
“This mine is a mass eviction project that is sold as a development project,” he said.
He said the community had held three meetings with King Misuzulu’s representatives about the mine.
Thulasizwe Buthelezi, Zulu prime minister and KwaZulu-Natal co-operative governance and traditional affairs MEC, said the Zulu king would meet Jindal representatives after hearing the concerns of residents.
“His majesty welcomes any development that does not affect the rights of local people in terms of their heritage and their way of life,” he said.
Farmers have also expressed strong opposition to the proposed mine.
Clinton Gray, a citrus farmer exporting to a variety of countries in the East and Middle East, employing 40 permanent staff and over 300 non-permanent staff, said an approval of the mine would have “disastrous effects” for current and future generations.
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