Mine tailing causes Eczema in Thulani Snake Park

Jimmy Meno

This illness called eczema started spreading mostly amongst residents during 2020 and 2021, this was affecting most children even adults who were starting to show symptoms of rare sores and itchy rash in their bodies. It’s because of the toxic dust from the tailing mine dump.

Many people say this eczema started as an allergy in their faces then it spread to their bodies. When they went to the clinic, the nurses diagnosed them with eczema and then transferred them to Baragwanath Hospital to meet with a dermatologist. This is happening in our community every day because of the dust from the tailing dump. The dump is not rehabilitated and it does not have water taps, it causes sand storms almost every week in our community.

I spoke to Kedibone Meno, the mother of a newborn baby Bonolo Meno. Her child was born with a bad skin condition, she was kept in hospital so that the skin of her child could be treated. It was confirmed that her child had eczema and they gave her ointments and aqueous to bathe her child. All those diseases are caused by the dust in Snake Park.

We at Bambanani Snake Park must fight against the owners of the dump. They must come to the community and rehabilitate the tailing, and they must learn from our cooperative that we can start with sunflowers. This initiative has not been done anywhere around Soweto. As an activist, I feel this tailing must be disposed of if the mine fails to come and remediate because re-mining will also not benefit us.