A cluster of homes abandoned near the proposed mine pit. The terms of relocation agreements with affected residents remains unclear.
Earth movers flattening a large area of land next to eMalahleni village near Mtubatuba in KwaZulu-Natal, where the Tendele mining company hopes to establish a new open-cast anthracite pit. Mcejo’s members fear being removed permanently from their homes and ancestral land or of having to live on the fence line of open-cast coal mines for the next few decades.
She said the law required the company to conduct a thorough public consultation and environmental impact assessment process, whereas Tendele’s attempt to sidestep good-faith consultation was a fundamental breach of the law and “nothing short of egregious”. Taking into account several factors — including Tendele’s role as a major employer in the Somkhele area near Mtubatuba; its financial contribution to the national economy; its annual sales of 600,000 tonnes of anthracite to local ferrochrome producers and its payment of “hundreds of millions of rand in taxes” to the government — the judge declined to set aside the illegally granted mining rights.
In his July 2023 judgment, Pietermaritzburg High Court Judge Piet Koen commented that he had been placed in the position of having to interpret the meaning and effect of another court’s ruling. Tendele appears to have interpreted Judge Koen’s judgment as granting explicit permission for mining to commence, even though the judge remarked that no time limits had been set for the revised EIA process to be completed.
Tendele insists that no one will be forced to leave, and that the “majority” of the community favoured mining. Yet documents in Tendele’s new draft EIA report suggest that intimidation continues against residents unwilling to move out. Youens complained that since Tendele began construction work in early May, residents had been struggling to sleep.Fellow All Rise attorney Janice Tooley posed the question: What is the point of public consultation or an EIA if the company starts to build a mine before the legal processes are concluded?
Tendele has indicated that it regards its Relocation Action Plan to be ’sensitive‘ and confidential. In response to the questions, the company reiterated its position that the company was permitted to start mining “in parallel to the EIA process and public participation process .