Mmaditlhokwa community lose their livestock

Cicilia Manyane

Tharisa opencast chrome mine operating in Mmaditlhokwa continues with its injustices towards our community, the company operates less than 500m away from the community. This has endless negative impacts in the environment and community’s wellbeing.

The mine has now taken livestock grazing land which has led to a loss of livestock as they get electrocuted when trying to jump the fence to access grass which could be contaminated with chemicals during blasting. The refusal of the mine to put up a barrier fence after their electrical one poses a great danger to the residents and livestock.

There is a river that flows from one side to the other in the community. The community utilizes the water from the river for their laundry, swimming and take livestock to drink during the day. When the mine got here they then connected their pipes to the river as a means to dump their waste and chemical water and this has subjected the community to a foul smell and an overrun river.

Our biggest concern is that the water in which the children continue to swim in may be harmful in the long run , be it skin and or eye problems. Another integral part of the community which is slowly being compromised and will deteriorate is a Heritage Site that was found by the members of Mining Host Communities in Crisis Network whilst checking where exactly the river flows from. The findings were of hard rock that had different set of hove markings and carvings as well as formations of rain droplets that had dried up on the rock.