- Parties in support of the Somkhele coal mine expansion have taken aim at the lawyers who have helped to oppose the project.
- Backlash against the attorneys come after a court ordered the mining right be reconsidered by the minister.
- The non-profit law firm says the mining company should blame itself for the predicament it finds itself in.
Unions and a traditional council have taken aim at a non-profit law firm representing community members opposed to the expansion of a KwaZulu-Natal coal mine, and have called on the attorneys to reveal their true motives and those of its funders.
In a joint statement released by DMS Attorneys on behalf of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), the Mpukunyoni Traditional Council, and Mpukunyoni Community Mining Forum this week, the group levelled harsh allegations against All Rise, a law clinic for climate and environmental justice, going so far to label its opposition to the coal mine’s activities in KwaZulu-Natal as "tantamount to a gross human rights violation". All Rise has condemned these comments as "hugely irresponsible".
The statement from the unions and traditional council comes as Mfolozi Community Environmental Justice Organisation (MCEJO), represented by All Rise, recently succeeded in a legal challenge to Tendele’s mining right, which serves as the basis to expand the Somkhele mine for another 10 years.
The court’s judgment, which was handed down earlier this month, found Tendele had failed to properly follow the legal processes required to obtain the mining right. Its processes were especially deficient concerning public participation and obtaining community consent. The court ordered that MEJCO’s appeal to Tendele’s mining, which the minister of mineral resources had previously rejected, be sent back to him for reconsideration.
Tensions have been simmering around the coal mine’s expansion for years and boiled over in October 2020 when Fikile Ntshangase, an activist opposed to the project, was assassinated.
The DMS statement called on All Rise and its funders to account to the local community and accused the law firm of pursuing an "obvious agenda to close the mine".
The unions, the traditional council and the community mining forum said they represented the employees of the mine and more than 95% of the community of Mpukunyoni, which has a population of 220 000. Meanwhile, the DMS statement claimed MCEJO had 3 000 members in South Africa, and 550 members were from the Mpukunyoni community.
"All Rise represents less than 1% of the community members, and it is a flagrant lie that All Rise is speaking on behalf of the community members," the four organisations said. "We request, in fact, we demand, that All Rise discloses the identity of its funders, and ... that its funders account for the harm All Rise is intent on causing to our community by persisting with its agenda to close the mine … All Rise’s actions are tantamount to a gross human rights violation as the implications of its actions will have a direct and seriously detrimental impact on … the community."
The parties said the Mpukonyoni Area is poverty-stricken, with unemployment above 70% and an average family income is less than R2 000 per month. "We need the mine open," the DMS statement said. "We continue to argue and pray that sanity prevails, that Tendele addresses the issues as directed by the court, that Tendele continues to receive the support from financial institutions and that the mine be saved."
Kirsten Youens, executive director of All Rise, said the allegation that MCEJO only has 550 members is spurious and was definitively disproved in the context of a separate application brought by a splinter group of former members of MCEJO to withdraw the review application in 2021, which was dismissed.
She said there is no basis in the call for it to account when the rationale for its opposition to the mining is fully set out in the court papers wherein "it is plainly apparent that in addition to representing those members of the community who are directly and adversely affected by Tendele’s mining activities, it also speaks on behalf of the environment in terms of section 24 [of the Constitution]".
While the mine currently employs a portion of the community, Youens said the statement issued by DMS loses sight of is the fact that this will end when the mine has depleted all the resources it can from the area, leaving behind irreversible environmental degradation that will impact the area for years after mining has ceased.
"It is therefore tragic and unfortunate that the community members who live in the area and who will be the most adversely affected by the environmental, social and health impact of the mining are encouraged to sacrifice the well-being of current and future generations and their rights to a healthy environment at the altar of a few years of low-income employment," she said.
All Rise further said the review application was not aimed at closing down the mine, but sought to vindicate the principles of the rule of law, the rights of the people living on the land and sustainable development.
"It is hugely irresponsible of DMS to label the actions of a law clinic, pursuant to its mandate, as 'tantamount to a gross human rights violation' simply because they do not approve of its mandate or because All Rise was successful in its application against [DMS’s] clients," she said.
Such an attack on All Rise can only be intended to intimidate, harass and silence the organisation, Youens noted, adding that the unions have chosen to fan the flames of division and blame MCEJO and All Rise for the predicament Tendele finds itself in.
"Tendele chose to ride roughshod over the rights of the community. They only have themselves to blame, and the onus is on them not to make the same mistakes in the process that must follow," said Youens. "It is unclear what DMS hopes to achieve by conducting what is effectively a form of post facto litigation against All Rise in the public domain. We do not intend, however, to accept the invitation to do so."