Soil erosion at tailings mine dump in Snake Park

Nobulaw Sitshaluza

The mine dump constitutes a potential source of contamination to the environment, as heavy
metals and acids are released in large numbers. Soil erosion is the natural process in which the
topsoil of a field is carried away by physical sources such as wind and rainwater.

Snakepark community members are currently experiencing a lot of dust since there are several
truck movements on top of the tailing. On the 20th of October 2024 it rained but the following
day on the 21st it was dusty, later the same day it rained again. On the 22nd of October 2024,
the following day it was dusty again.

Ms Tlalane aged 40 years stays at number 27, with her husband and one child.
He moved to Snakepark 5 years ago from Lenasia reason being they couldn’t afford rent
payments. They made a deal with the farm owner to look after his farm in exchange for staying
rent-free on his farm.

"She says that she doesn’t know what is going on in the tailing, all she saw were trucks that
were busy on top working and the other thing is that the level of dust coming from the tailing
mine dump has increased since all of these trucks arrived there "

Mr Donsa is a farm owner, a father of three, and a grandfather of two. We spoke briefly during
the time I went to his farm to bring his pig’s leftover food as I sometimes do ." He said that he
spoke to one of the workers that were near the tailing mine dump and asked him what exactly
are you guys working on there on top of tailing. He says the guy responded that "they are

leveling the mine to prevent another sludge from flooding the community again and also we will
be removing the tailing completely. He also complains about the dust becoming even more. "

I have realized that some of our community members know nothing about what is going on at
the tailing. The counselors need to put more effort into informing the community members of
what is going on at the tailing currently. The most she needs to do is to call a follow-up meeting
with all the community members because mostly it is only the stakeholders who receive
invitations to attend the important meetings but when it comes to some community meeting
gatherings, on every street there will be a huge announcement about an up and coming
meeting.