Environmental justice activists have spoken out against coal and iron mining in South Africa, telling a recent human rights hearing that the industry violently undermines the country’s promised energy transition. They also pointed to the continued threats, displacement and killings faced by community organizers resisting land grabs by mining companies.
The fifth Human Rights Defenders People’s Hearings, held at Constitution Hill in Johannesburg on Oct. 22, was convened by Life After Coal, a joint campaign by local NGOs Earthlife Africa, groundWork, and the Centre for Environmental Rights.
Israel Nkosi of the Mfolozi Community Environmental Justice Organisation told the hearing about how he and other activists campaigning against the Tendele coal mine in KwaZulu-Natal province had been forced into hiding after gunmen opened fire on their homes at night.
“A woman activist was intimidated. We had to help her relocate from the area. Violence will never stop where there are mines in the area,” Nkosi said.
Reverend Mbhekiseni Mavuso, a community campaigner against the planned Melmoth iron ore mine, also in KwaZulu-Natal, told of surviving an attempted killing in March 2024 by gunmen who killed fellow activist Mbhekiseni Dladla.
“The hitmen showed us a list in 2011 that they were given 75,000 rand [about $4,300] to kill us,” Mavuso said. “From then we never had peace. I have been shot at in broad daylight. We are just waiting to die at any time because nobody is protecting us. Our parents live by prayer, praying for our lives.”
The government’s Just Energy Transition Partnership plan notes the country will transition away from coal, currently the country’s main source of electricity, and invest in renewable energy, while supporting workers and communities reliant on the coal mines. At the same time, the government has extended the operational life of several coal-fired power plants, delaying their closure until 2030. It has also permitted state electricity utility Eskom to exceed greenhouse gas emissions limits for eight of its coal-fired power plants.
As South Africa’s dependence on coal and the legacy of coal mining persist, so does the exploitation of communities, activists said at the hearing.
Advocate Louisa Zondo, one of the hearing’s jurors, said the testimonies showed there were no consequences for “criminality of all sorts.” She said the mining companies, police, local governments and traditional leaders were complicit in “violating the rights of people.”
“Mental health and well-being are centrally impacted. Rights are violated with impunity in the quest to steal peoples’ land for profit,” Zondo said.
Environmental sociologist Llewellyn Leonard of the University of South Africa told Mongabay that a credible and just transition could only happen once communities damaged by extractive industries were paid reparations, and mines held accountable.
The Department of Minerals and Petroleum Resources hadn’t responded to Mongabay’s questions by the time of publication.
Banner image: Mfolozi Community Environmental Justice Organisation leader Fikile Ntshangase was killed in 2020. Image courtesy of Lunga Bhengu/groundWork.
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