The environmental impact also infrastructure dibanded

MENGE AGNES CHOLEDI

Since the disaster occurred our town has been dry like a desert, even trees are dying due to this toxic mud that is lying on our land. Our animals are struggling cause there is no food for them to eat. We are also concerned to see how slow this company is working to rehabilitate our environment, and now he has started to complain about the money they are spending to do work. They only forget it’s their own mistakes, greediness, and also irresponsible because they
were warned from the beginning and they didn’t listen.

They even bridged the order from DWS in 2020 and also in 2021, now it’s clear that this mine didn’t comply and must be fined by law. Because they have money they will be covered by our government and the problem is from the ANC, so that they can benefit but the community is suffering. The water that the animals are drinking from the valley is not in good condition, even our drinking water is not clean the sewage is all over the streets. When we look at our valley where we are always grazing our livestock it has become a desert and the grass is not growing again is only unuseful plants. We are still waiting in vain for this
company to come back and clean up the mess they’ve created all of them.

They must come back to us to address how are they dealing with this matter and how are they going to resolve this man-made disaster. We are still waiting for the reports to be published: the disaster report, environmental assessment report, and also reports from the NPA of a criminal case opened by DWS. There’s
also the lawsuit from the community all these measures must be published in the interest of the community and also to learn from this journey. We urge the government not to take sides in this disaster but they must investigate and give proper feedback to the community and also listen to all sides of the story, till today we are still not recognized by this law and people have lost hope from all the spheres of government.