New xpal mines threaten the security of families

Description

y Lorraine Kakaza
New coal mines are on the rise in Mpumalanga. White farmers
are selling up their land and leaving. Poor black families who were
laborers on the farm are being forced to move. Some do not want
to move. Some believe they have rights to the farm on which they
worked for a large part of their lives. Those who move regret having
moved. Lorraine Kakaza, a community monitor, interviewed two af-
fected families.
The Masina Family
I visited the Masina family where by I meet Mr. Johan Zembe Ma-
sina who is 84 years and lived on a farm, Twyfelaar for 60 years. This
farm is out side Carolina in the Mpumalanga province. Mr. Masina
used to work for the previous farmer named Jacobus Van Deberg
who has passed away. The sons said that the farmer Jacobus Van De-
berg promised their father money or the farm. The farmer passed
away while they were still in the process of the negotiation. The fa-
ther says that when the owner of the farm passed away he became
the owner of the farm.
Mr. Masina with his three sons are concerned about the the entry
of Phembani Coal Carolina onto the farm. The Phembani Coal Mine is
owned by a leading South African business man who was the former
MTN boss, Phuthumani Nhleko.
Now that the mines have moved in, the family’s life has become
hard. “I used to have my own livestock and I lost my livestock due
to mine activity,” said Mr. Masina. Mine blasting has made cracks on
their house. When the mine blasts they come to the family and take
them away from their houses and when they are done blasting the
family has to to walk back on their own. Mr. Masina can’t walk be-
cause of his age.
The family is not allowed to extend their house. The sons say
that they were harassed by a mine official who on several occasions
warned Mr. Masina not to build further on this farm.
The Masina family is worried about their five graves and the other
11 graves that belong to other families. The mine promised to put a
fence.
The family wrote a letter to the government were they stated that
the mines told them that they had no right to to stay on the farm.
“We reported several times to the MEC for the province, even now
we never got a positive response from them,” the sons told me. The
family approached the South African Human Rights Commission to
investigate their problem. They also registered a land claim. They re-
ceived an acknowledgement letter from the commissioner.
Mr Masina’s income is a pension grant and he can’t afford to plant
maize meal. He was full of tears when he told me “My neighbor who
got a new house from the mine said I must move, she was sent by a
mine official. I replied that I’m not going anywhere”.
The struggle of the Masina family continues. We are watching!