Mine wants to buy our land
Mosamedi Molin
Mine wants to buy our land
#landfortailingorslimedam
There was a meeting on 18 October 2023 at Mogabane village for the community of Mogabane and surrounding areas which are Maruping, Dikgage, GaSelepe and Mafeane. The meeting was about the land that is to be sold by elders of the villages who owns the fields, Bokoni mine wants to buy their land and build a tailing dam.
Before that meeting there were several meetings where the landowners met with the mine management and agreed to sell their land for R20 000. They have agreed now and just waiting for the mining company to pay and take the fields. Sadly, most of the people who own the land are old women. Another issue is the land that must be bought is not far from where people stay.
The payment will be a once off while the tailing will be there for years. As activists and other community members we tried to show them how dangerous tailings are, but they don’t want to hear anything. They think we are jealous of them because they are going to get money from the mine.
Tailing dams are very dangerous and will bring diseases or other challenges to the community but the land owners doesn’t know that. The tailings will be taken from the mine to the land that will be bought. People won’t be able to farm or collect wood and on the other hand the livestock will have no place to graze. The dust will be coming to our houses and this might end up causing skin and respiratory illnesses to the community.
We are currently waiting for a meeting to discuss the same issue and the mine people are not showing the public the benefits or harms of tailing dam. They know that once problems starts the land will be in their hands. We really need to open the eyes of our people as activists but it is not an easy task, mining companies know that people are hungry and they use money to win our elders.
Our elders does not have knowledge about tailing dams. The money that they will get will look like lot of money but as years goes by they will realize that it is not enough. Mines mostly use devide and rule to get what they want and this is a huge problem especially in the rural areas where people does not have a full knowledge about mining.
The land was no longer used and it was going to be a great idea if people were encouraged to do farming on it. By the time our children get old they will have no ownership of that land but will be the ones facing the challenges caused by the tailings.
There is a need to educate our people about land because it is priceless. Instead of selling land why not rent it to the mining companies? Our people should also learn to say no if something is brings problems or they should ask those who know for assistance to gather information for them. The mines are taking advantage of our elder women because they don’t have knowledge about mine related things.