Cloud of dust covering the community

Steven Ramokhula
Ikemeleng Kroondal
Rustenburg local municipality

2021 November 24

Ikemeleng community is in Kroondal outside of Rustenburg. It is located in in the middle of mining cooperations. There are 2 tailing dams that are less than 100m away from the community.

These tailing dams release a large amount of dust to the community when it’s windy. The entire community gets covered by with toxic dust that contains radio active materials.

The study we did with Bua Mining Communities back in 2014 showed that majority of the people in Bojanala are suffering from respiratory problems. This is because many of those communities are mine hosts.

There are many radioactive materials flowing in the atmosphere that we are not aware of. The only thing that most communities are concerned about is the dust. This is because the dust is visible enough for everyone to see it.

The government does nothing with such cases. The communities are the ones suffering the impacts of mining. The worst part is, the communities mostly benefit little to nothing from the mining industry.