Another court victory for Xolobeni

May demand a copy of application

Meaningful consultation entails discussion of ideas, making concessions

Tintswalo Makhubele High Court Judge

THE XOLOBENI people and all rural communities scored a groundbreaking victory when the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, ordered the Department of Mineral Resources to give a copy of the mining application to affected parties on demand.

In 2018 the coastal Amadiba communities won the right to say no to mining on their land.

This week the court ordered that they may demand a copy of the mining application.

The mining companies may only hide sensitive financial information.

The Amadiba Crisis Committee said this means, for example, that the so-called “social labour plans” in the applications are no longer a secret to communities.

Judge Tintswalo Makhubele said in her judgment that “meaningful consultation entails discussion of ideas on an equal footing, considering the advantages and disadvantages of each course and making concessions where necessary”.

Two years ago the court ruled that consent must be given by communities living on ancestral land before the government could give the go-ahead for mining rights.

Following that landmark victory, the Xolobeni community again turned to the courts to take matters further.

It argued that without first studying the mining rights application submitted to the government by mining giants, affected communities would not know how it affected them.

This in turn would put them on the back foot if they had to negotiate with the government and mining operations regarding prospective mining on their land.

In 2015 leaders of the uMgungundlovu community in the Eastern Cape became aware of a mining rights application made by TEM to mine titanium deposits discovered around the Xolobeni area where they lived.

As they were concerned about the impact of the mining on their lives, they wanted access to the mining rights application. When they could not access these documents from either the company or the state, they turned to the courts.

Meanwhile they were provided with a redacted version of the documents, which they have used to object to mining in the area.