Glencoe mine
Lucky Khoali
On 11th April 2024, there was heavy rainfall and the Glencoe dam was overflown. The pumps of the dam are to be opened to reduce the volume of the water inside the dam. The unfortunate part is that the water from the pumps flowed into our community river in Ikemeleng. People who stayed next to the river were affected because there was water flowing from the river into the community.
We went to see the head of Environment at Glencoe to discuss the issues of the water that was coming from their dam, he said that he was not aware that workers had opened the pumps for the water to flow out of the mine. He promised to fix the problem. We also informed him about the waste papers that were littered on their fence, and we asked him to assign people from the mine to clean it. This is because when it is windy they are blowing into the community and to the school. We came to the agreement that they would assist Ikemeleng’s environmental development and justice with cleaning equipment so that we could keep our village clean.
We will have a meeting with the Glencoe environmental office once a month to work together on issues of keeping our environment clean because what they do is not fair. They only clean when there are visitors from the municipality and never do it again. We informed them that everyone has a right to live in a good, healthy, and safe environment and not only the Mayor. They agreed to assist us and informed us that they will have a training course on environmental responsibility, and will invite Ikemeleng Environmental Development and Justice to attend.
