Nonhle Mbuthuma

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Nonhle Mbuthuma (born around 1979 in Xolobeni , Transkei ) is a South African activist. She is co-founder and, since 2016, spokesperson of the Amadiba Crisis Committee (ACC), which opposes the planned mining of a local titanium mineral deposit by the Australian mining company Mineral Commodities Ltd. (MRC) fights. In November 2018, the Gauteng Division of the High Court of South Africa in Pretoria ruled against the dismantling plans.

Life

origin

Nonhle Mbuthuma grew up on the South African Wild Coast . Her parents grew sweet potatoes and bananas on their own land.

The parents' farm is located in the village of Xolobeni near Bizana , the region is known as Pondoland . As a teenager, Mbuthuma worked as a tour guide in this region and particularly brought the visitors closer to the ecological diversity of the sub-tropical and moderate climate and how to watch the whales. The initiative of the European Union to further promote eco-tourism has at least for a while nourished the hope of a further development of gentle tourism as an income opportunity in the region.

activism

Nonhle Mbuthuma is a member of the Amadiba Crisis Committee (ACC), founded in 2007 , which was launched against a mining project by the Australian company Mineral Commodities Ltd. fights. After long-term partner Sikhosiphi Rhadebe was shot in the head by people posing as police officers, Mbuthuma took over his role as chairman. Villagers believed that Rhadebe was murdered because of his opposition to the mining company's plans to mine. Investigations did not result in any arrests. At least ten other people who opposed the dismantling plans were killed in an unexplained manner. According to local media, among other things, they were poisoned. There is no evidence that compatriots who benefit from mining stand behind these attacks. Mbuthuma himself narrowly escaped an attack and has therefore often changed her whereabouts since then.

Inland residents were happy that their own land would remain untouched, that they would gain new jobs and that the infrastructure would improve. Residents closer to the coast were against it. They feared losing their farms, contaminating rivers, driving out wildlife and forcing future generations to miserable lives in townships . Nonhle Mbuthuma suspected the aftermath of apartheid . At that time Pondoland was an area with black tribal administration, which meant political autonomy, but economic disadvantage. Mbuthuma assumed that this situation of discrimination and precarious economic conditions could facilitate the implementation of the project.

Mineral Commodities Ltd. (MRC, originally for Mineral Resource Commodities ) is a global exploration and mining company headquartered in Australia, whose corporate purpose is the development of highly enriched deposits of industrial minerals and base metals as well as bulk mineral, gold and precious metal resources . The Transworld Energy and Resources (SA) Pty Ltd. (TEM), a majority shareholding of MRC, and the local BEE partner Xolobeni Empowerment Company (Xolco) received a mining permit for the Xolobeni Mineral Sands Project for the extraction of heavy mineral deposits on the coast of Pondoland in 2008 . This official permit was later revoked by the responsible Minister Susan Shabangu . According to the Legal Resources Center , the National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act 57 of 2003 does not allow mining in any area of ​​a marine reserve. This legal opinion had prevailed against the options for action based on the Mineral Resources Development Act . The later Mining Minister Gwede Mantashe tried in 2018 to weigh both positions against each other by campaigning for a different understanding, since the project is good for development and is intended to help the country's "struggling economy".

The company planned to invest in an open pit mine for the extraction of ilmenite and rutile from coastal sands in this area . These mineral raw materials are required for numerous products such as laptop computers, bicycles, watches, golf clubs, drill bits, etc. The project was aimed at annual sales of £ 140 million over 22 years of required mining rights to the mine. These projects led to polarized attitudes in the locally based Amadiba community.

Legal proceedings

Together with other representatives from the surrounding area, the ACC initiated legal proceedings before the High Court in Pretoria . It was argued that the open pit mine would destroy the livelihoods of people and the region's environment. In November 2018, the process went in favor of the ACC.

Judge Annali Basson relied on a ruling by the South African Constitutional Court that emphasized the bond between the country and the African people. The court ruling stipulates that the mining ministry must obtain the consent of the residents of a region before mining licenses can be issued. Mbuthuma has faced massive threats in the course of her activities. She herself is on a “death list” and several of her fellow campaigners were killed. These murders were not prosecuted.

After the verdict was announced, Nonhle Mbuthuma said to the waiting crowd: "This is a fight for the future of our children [...] If we lose our land, we will lose the only thing that our ancestors left us."

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Leonie March: South African activist - Nonhle Mbuthuma fights against giant titans. www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de, accessed on March 23, 2019 (German).
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h Anonymus: South Africa: Taking on a mining firm and winning. BBC, December 3, 2018, accessed March 23, 2019 .
  3. ^ A b c Jonathan Watts: 'I thank God I am alive': standing firm against mineral extraction in South Africa . In: The Guardian . July 21, 2018, ISSN  0261-3077 ( theguardian.com [accessed March 23, 2019]).
  4. ^ Mineral Commodities. Retrieved March 23, 2019 (Australian English).
  5. ↑ Mail & Guardian: AmaDiba win major battle in war against Xolobeni miners . Article of June 7, 2011 on www.mg.co.za (English)
  6. ^ Fiona Macleod: Transkei mining down, but not out . Article by Mail & Guardian from June 10, 2011 on www.mg.co.za (English)
  7. ↑ Mail & Guardian : Xolobeni judders as mining hovers . News from February 15, 2019 on www.mg.co.za (English)
  8. ↑ Republic of South Africa, Department of Mineral Resources: Report R71 / 2008, An Overview of South Africa's Titanium Mineral Concentrate Industry. Mineral Resource Commodities Projects . online at www.dmr.gov.za (English), PDF document p. 15
personal data
SURNAME Mbuthuma, Nonhle
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African activist
DATE OF BIRTH around 1979
PLACE OF BIRTH Xolobeni