{"id":4554,"date":"2021-01-03T10:00:05","date_gmt":"2021-01-03T10:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=145616"},"modified":"2021-01-03T10:00:05","modified_gmt":"2021-01-03T10:00:05","slug":"threats-and-murder-wont-stop-south-africas-environmental-activists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/01\/03\/threats-and-murder-wont-stop-south-africas-environmental-activists\/","title":{"rendered":"Threats and murder won\u2019t stop South Africa\u2019s environmental activists"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Mbuthuma and Mama Ntshangase had met numerous times, connected by a shared struggle against mining practices they saw as exploitative, and by a shared love for self-sustaining communities. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have gone to Somkhele to meet the activists there and they have come to Xolobeni,\u201d Mbuthuma says. \u201cThere was solidarity. But now the women in Somkhele are afraid, and many have gone into hiding. It breaks my heart, the situation there is very bad.\u201d <\/p>\n

In February, 19 bullets were fired into the home of another anti-mining activist, Tholakele Mthetwa \u2013 after she refused to sign relocation papers to make way for Tendele\u2019s expansion \u2013 according to her lawyer<\/a>. Mbuthuma believes such violence is gendered. \u201cI think they do target women because they know that women care about the coming generations. Women care about leaving a sustainable legacy for their children and for the community. We have seen some men change their tune after getting individual [financial] promises, but never women.\u201d <\/p>\n

Sustainability vs exploitation, state vs local<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Instead of selling the land to mining corporations, Mbuthuma wants the Wild Coast community\u2019s sustainable methods of development to grow. Locals produce their own food, which they sell to neighbouring cities, they fish in the waters off the Wild Coast and they have a booming ecotourism industry that attracts visitors from Latin America, Asia and the Western world. <\/p>\n

During South Africa’s severe coronavirus lockdown, Mbuthuma says the communities of Xolobeni didn’t take government food packages, but grew their own food. \u201cEven some people that were pro-mining have become anti-mining because, during lockdown, the land took care of them in ways that the government couldn’t.\u201d <\/p>\n

In their fight, indigenous environmental activists such as Mbuthuma contend not just with the mining corporations but with South Africa\u2019s political elite too. In September 2016, members of Mbuthuma\u2019s anti-mining group, ACC, were met with tear gas and bullets<\/a> when the South African police were called to \u2018protect\u2019 the minister of mineral resources, Gwede Mantashe, who was meeting with pro-mining groups in the area. <\/p>\n

Despite a lack of consensus from the community, and ongoing legal disputes, it seems the state is fully behind MRC. In a document entitled \u20182020 half-yearly presentation<\/a>\u2019, the Australian company asserts that \u201cThe Company has received approval for its future 2019-2023 Social Labour Plan from the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johan Lorenzen of Richard Spoor, a South African law firm that has represented environmental, human rights and community interests for decades, says his clients are vulnerable, with little to no impetus for the state to protect them. The mining companies seem to have the state on their side but when activists such as Fikile Ntshangase are killed, there is a \u201clack of resolve\u201d and no efforts to bring violence to an end, he says. <\/p>\n

Lorenzen’s firm secured a pro-community high court victory in 2018, which recognises that for mining activities, there should be enthusiastic buy-in from communities. But pursuing judicial intervention can itself be dangerous. <\/p>\n

Human Rights Watch says<\/a> that Ntshangase was \u201ckilled after her refusal to withdraw legal challenges to existing and future mining operations\u201d. Several of South Africa\u2019s environmental organisations agree.<\/p>\n

A statement<\/a> by Earthlife Africa, Lawyers for Human Rights and the Social Justice Coalition, among others, chronicles the dispute between MJECO and Tendele. The statement charges that state and traditional authorities actively assisted the mining company \u201cin its efforts to orchestrate a withdrawal\u201c of MJECO\u2019s court challenges against mining expansion. <\/p>\n

Ntshangase was murdered a week before one of the court cases brought by MCEJO was scheduled to be heard in the supreme court of appeal.<\/p>\n

Colonialism then and now<\/strong><\/h2>\n

These conflicts between the needs of indigenous communities in the global south and the capitalist appetites of foreign companies is now centuries old. From Congo to South Africa, such disputes were interwoven with colonialism and imperialist violence. Today, mining and other extractive companies continue to march into destitute communities waving cheap incentives, and collude with and corrupt public officials as they seek to sustain and expand their empires. <\/p>\n

Then and now, the companies\u2019 operations lead to pollution, forced displacement of people and other environmental and human rights abuses. It is activists such as Nonhle Mbuthuma and Fikile Ntshangase who stand between the companies and indigenous communities. They pay a high price for their opposition, from aggressive harassment to murder. <\/p>\n\n

This post was originally published on Radio Free<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mbuthuma and Mama Ntshangase had met numerous times, connected by a shared struggle against mining practices they saw as exploitative, and by a shared love for self-sustaining communities.\u00a0\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":424,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4554"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/424"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4554"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4554\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4555,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4554\/revisions\/4555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}