Phambili nge Monitoring school Phambili

Khanyisile Matsaba

Community monitoring school operates in South African communities and 6 other African countries, which is a platform for people to tell their stories about the issues that affect them as mining hosting communities. Many people who do the writing are the facilitators and the monitors, who are people from community-based organizations. The school was established in 2002.
I, as the monitor got introduced to the monitoring school in February 2023 by Astone Chaole, and since then my activist life has been activated and I got the chance to help my community for their voices to be heard through writing alerts. Through the monitoring schools and monitors, the communities are now confident to open up about the issues they are facing as they see the results the monitoring school is bringing to other communities.

For the Nyakallong community, the monitoring school had helped with multiple things such as the Voelpan destroying the houses of the people, the herdsman’s life stocks dying due to the inhalation, and drinking the chemical water from the Voelpan. This year we focused on Mosala Secondary School, which is the only affected school where this pan is now flowing inside the school premises.

There have been meetings and agreements about starting phytoremediation which will not only rehabilitate the soil but help the community with food and a
chance for an extra income. And also the monitoring school has helped our community-based organizations to be recognized by other stakeholders, which brings more opportunities and ways to help our communities. Phambili ( forward ) nge monitoring school phambili.