The residents of Shepstone Lake in Newcastle are digging their heels in over the planned expansion of the Ikwezi coal mine that already operates in several areas around the northern KwaZulu-Natal town.

Over 100 residents have signed a petition calling for a halt to the expansion until the company provides it with proof that the plan has been approved and proper consultation has been held.

The petition, which community representatives say has been submitted to the mine and the Department of Minerals, Resources and Energy, also calls on the mine to produce a register of community members who attended the alleged consultations. 

In the petition, the community states that it learned much from the mine’s handling of its operations in Kliprand Farm, where it is currently operating. 

Both the mine and the department deny receiving the petition.

Residents say they are concerned about the impact of mine operations on their homes and health, after hearing about Kliprand Farm.

Mlamuli Mazibuko, a pensioner from Kliprand Farm, says he has been complaining to the mine about visible cracks in the walls of his home as even new structures on the property, built in 2018, developed cracks soon afterwards. His house is less than 500m from the mine. 

Residents living near coal mining in Kliprand village near Newcastle complain that they are badly affected by the mining in the area that has caused damage to their properties. (Photo: Mandla Langa)

Large cracks have also developed outside his house. He believes they were caused by blasting from the mine.

Mazibuko says after months of complaints to the mine, they sent assessors to the property early last year, to measure the effect of the blasting on the land his house is built on. 

“They set up the machine and arranged for there to be a blast while we waited. They then told me that the machine showed that the blasting had no effect on the ground the house is built on. They told me that me and my  family were scared by the sound of the blasting.”

Mazibuko is concerned that the tests were not independent as the mine brought in their own people to do the assessment. “Independent experts should be brought in to do the testing. The mine cannot be a referee and a player,” he added. 

Mazibuko has encouraged the people of Shepstone Lake to be vigilant.

“The mine [must] take care of people’s health and safety as well as their properties, and not do what they had done here. You cannot blast and allow dark dust to go up in the air and not take proper precautions like they were doing here,” he says. 

“How would it help to mine coal and for people to die? The problem is that the effects of what people have been exposed to will only be seen years after the exposure,” he said.

Sthembi Ngema says whenever there is a blasting operation, she heads outdoors. “I’m worried that the house will fall on top of us,” she says. 

The crack in the walls of the homes of residents living near the Ikwezi mine in Kliprand village near Newclastle. (Photo: Mandla Langa)

Ngema too has cracks developing in her walls and, like her neighbours, believes the mine’s blasting is causing it.

She points to a wall vent in her bedroom, which she covered up with a piece of paper to prevent dust and smoke from entering the room. It was blackened from the coal dust. “It can’t be that our health is not affected. Look at that paper up there. I put the paper over the vent to keep the smoke out. It’s now turned black. I normally do this [ close the vent] because if I don’t, I can’t breathe properly because of the smoke,” she says.

She says she wants the mine to compensate the residents.

Ngema, who lives with her eight-year-old niece, says she is worried about their health because of the smoke and the dust. She says her niece often tells her that she no longer likes living in the area due to the quality of the air. 

“If she goes and stays with our other family, I’ll be left all alone,” she says.

Mphakathi Kubheka, a resident of Shepstone Lake and one of the petition signatories, says they are worried they will suffer the same fate as the Kliprand Farm residents if the mine was to expand to their area. 

“We have seen this community’s problems and some being forced to move from their homes. The other thing that worries us is that when people protest against the mine, police are called and people’s concerns are not attended to,” he says.

Kubheka says they are also worried that their children’s schooling might be disrupted due to the mine’s expansion. 

Induna Bongani Zulu says the community is deeply divided about the expansion plans of Ikwezi. (Photo: Mandla Langa)

Bongani Zulu, the area’s induna, says the mine had attempted to mine in the area in 2006, but the community stopped it. Zulu said when their late chief had called a meeting with the community that year, people were up in arms and it ended abruptly.

He says: “The mine is not being trustworthy; it’s not consulting us.”

Zulu says the mine’s social labour plan – which outlines how it will create employment for those living in the area – doesn’t reflect the wishes of the community as residents were not consulted.  

People wanted jobs, he said, but it was worrying they no longer had a community liaison officer, which is partly why they no longer knew what was happening with the mine.

Young people in the area have said they would welcome the mine, if they were offered employment. Thirty-one-year-old Nkosikhona Jele says the first time they were invited to a discussion by the mine was on 22 May this year. They thought it would be an information sharing session but it turned out to be a done deal. “They were not there to consult with us; they were there to tell us what was going to happen,” he said. 

Philani Mavuso, an unemployed youth from Shepstone Lake, agrees, saying they had hoped the mine would invite them to provide input on how youth can be empowered. “What we had hoped was for the mine to come to the community and discuss the social labour plan with the community instead of just presenting a plan that they had come with. This worries us because we feel that the mine is still carrying on without consulting us as the community and the youth in the area,” he says.

They were promised that 80% of the workforce would come from the community, he alleges. “We applied but we only know of two people who were hired from this area.”

Trucks leave the Ikwezi mine in Kliprand, transporting coal that is mined in the area. (Photo: Mandla Langa)

In response to questions from Daily Maverick, Ikwezi director for mining business units, Bonani Ndlovu, denied the move to mine in the Shepstone Lake area was an expansion of operations.

“This area was always part of the area to be mined seeing that it falls within the mine’s mining right area. The activities have been ongoing and the operations are expected to commence in 2021,” said Ndlovu.

He said the mine had engaged with all the communities that fell within its mining rights area, including the Shepstone Lake community, and that engagements started in 2011.

Mining rights for the area covering approximately 12,000ha – including the vicinity of Shepstone Lake – were acquired in June 2012, he said, adding the mine only started operating in Kliprand Farm in May 2018.

About the cracking walls in Kliprand farm, he said the mine had procured the services of a specialist blasting firm to monitor its blasting activities to ensure ground vibrations were kept within the minimum legal requirements. “Reports have been generated in this regard to the effect that the said cracks on the walls are not a result of any of the mine’s blasting activities.”

Ndlovu said the mine would be focusing on employing and training the youth. 

groundWork has been educating the community about coal mining and their rights. In an opinion piece recently published in groundWork’s newsletter, Themba Khumalo, a community member and environmental activist, expressed concern about the tensions between the mine and residents.

He says those living in the area continue to be violated as “people inhale coal dust, houses are cracking and some of the family graves are still trapped inside the Ikwezi coal mine premises”.

Khumalo says the families whose homes have cracked had approached the mine but got nowhere. On 12 March, they protested, eight people were arrested and spent the weekend in jail. “Three of those were kicked by the police while lying down. One of them was a woman,” laments Khumalo in the oped, adding while charges were dropped against some, others had to attend court. “We cannot just sit down while our lives fade away before our faces [sic].”

Residents of Kliprand outside Newcastle complain that they are badly affected by mining in the area. (Photo: Mandla Langa)

Ntombifuthi Ngwenya, whose family had to move from Kliprand Farm due to the proximity of the mine, is not happy. She says her grandmother’s grave is still on the mine property. “The mine said they would only buy one cow for the family ritual that needed to be done for the graves to be moved. However, our family was not happy about this because it meant our grandmother’s ritual could not be performed as she is an elder and there would need to be two cows. At the moment we are struggling to come up with the money to do this,” she says. Now, her family has to go to the mine to visit their grandmother’s grave.

Ndlovu denied knowing about the Ngwenya family’s concerns about the grave and invited the family to bring the matter to their attention for further investigation. 

Coal campaigner for GroundWork, Robby Mokgalaka says rural communities are often taken advantage of by mining companies and the mine never consulted with the Kliprand Farm community when it came to the area. Mokgalaka said community members were concerned about losing their homes, loved ones’ graves and grazing land for their livestock. In December 2018, they were granted an interdict by the Pietermaritzburg High Court to stop the mine from mining until it provided those affected alternative homes prior to mining in the area. “Even after the mine had been ordered to provide alternative accommodation for the community, including grazing land and to move their graves, it took too long to move some of the families,” he says. 

Ndlovu insists the mine would follow the proper health and safety measures to ensure that schools and any other structures close to the mine are not adversely affected by its operations”. He says their risk assessment had shown that no one would be relocated as the area that would be mine is far from people’s homes. 

The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy has confirmed that Ikwezi’s mining rights include Shepstone Lake, and the current proposal is for the extension of their mining operations. 

The department added that it had “addressed several complaints over the years regarding Ikwezi in line with the prescripts of the law”. DM/OBP