A new umbrella organisation was founded to form a united forum of stakeholders affected by the activities of CoAL of Africa Limited (CoAL) and other similar entities.

Different stakeholders met in the AgriSA head office in Centurion on 14 August, with the outcome that the new Vhembe Mineral Resources Stakeholders Forum was formed. The chairperson of the forum is Mr Philé van Zyl of ZZ2.

“We want to ensure that any possible mining activities are carefully scrutinized in an integrated manner and not on an ad hoc basis. In the case of existing mining operations, we will ensure that they operate in compliance with governing legislation. Where damage has already been done to the environment, we will ensure that the environment is rehabilitated in the correct way. Our forum combines the landowners and other stakeholders, including the black communities,” Van Zyl told the Zoutpansberger on Monday. 

Other purposes of the forum are to promote business and economic progress in the area north of the Soutpansberg, to strive towards the preservation of the environment and to collate ideas and opinions by combining the landowners and other stakeholders, resulting in the economic development of the community dependent on the farming activities in the area.

At the founding meeting, Van Zyl elaborated and emphasized that the forum wants to ensure that all applicants for prospecting or mining rights in Limpopo are to follow a transparent application process and that interested parties are fully informed of all the applicants' activities. Their objective is “to place stakeholders in a position to take whichever action may be deemed appropriate in the event that any transgressions of the relevant legislation should occur,” Van Zyl said.

Taking immediate action, the forum instructed its attorney to write a letter in connection with the various mining rights applications by CoAL and others over the farms Schuitdrift, Mount Stuart, Riet, Boas, Generaal, Coen Brits and Bekaf, collectively referred to as the Generaal-project, allied to the Chapudi, Vele (near Mapungubwe Heritage Site), Jutland, Makhado and Mopane projects.

“….grave environmental misgivings exist in respect of both the Makhado and Vele projects. Under the circumstances, there is no basis for contending that the new pending applications/projects pass under section 23 of the MPRDA,” wrote attorney Christo Rheeders. He requested a meeting of the new forum with CoAL and emphasized that a Regional Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment (RSEIA) ought to be undertaken “in order to allow interested and affected parties to fully asses the collective impact of the proposed mining activities in the province.”

Other office bearers of the new forum are Tony Taylor, Thabu Bosman, Gerhard Minnaar, Rudolf Otto, Jacques Willemse and Wally Schultz. Schultz represented the Save Our Beautiful Limpopo Valley (SOLVe) group.