Mine abuse

Lindiwe Matshiane

Municipality: Steve Tshwete

Town: Middelburg 

Area: Wonderfontein Village

Province: Mpumalanga

 

Mine abuse

 

Wonderfontein is a village under SteveTshwete Municipality in Mpumalanga. Around 40 families live there. There’s a mine under Anglo that operates around there, which has around 10 years of operations. Families at Wonderfontein Village have lived there for many years. The place was owned by farmers before the mine operation. 

 

At Wonderfontein Village families’ lives were good, with livestock and farming also with boreholes water. Farmers did sell the land, and then families’ lifestyles and living conditions changed when the mine came and started to operate in the area.

 

Negative impacts such as air pollution were seen, water contamination, and house cracks as a result of blasting. The noise of mine trucks began to happen. Engagements with Municipality, DMRE, and Land Affairs took place to raise concerns about the operation of the mine. That is the operation that leads to abuse of community living standards. The three parties said there was nothing they could do because it was private land, so it was for the families to move out of the place.

 

Based on the mine abuse of its operation some families had to move out because of such abusive living conditions. To date, only two families are left as they don’t have an alternative place to go to. As community members, we did engage with churches to help the families of which the churches agreed to help. So churches will soon move the families to safe places.

 

#Mines must closed

 

#Fast track Just Transition.