Living on the Fault Line

Evah Mokwena

By: Evah Mokwena

Living on the Fault Line: Blasting, Broken Homes, and the Vosman Crisis
Emalahleni is abundant with coal and mines, and people live near these mines, specifically at
Vosman. The full problem is that people relocated to that area before they decided to open the
mine, even though some places were approved as residential areas, and some were not. At the end
of the day, people need places to stay. The mine has been open for a while, and people’s houses are
damaged daily because of the Blasting that takes place in the mine.
I was passing through some houses located beside the mine. Most are damaged by the mine
blasting; whenever there’s an explosion in the mine, it affects nearby buildings. I visited a few
houses to see how much damage it causes. Many of the houses have blasting cracks, with broken
windows and holes in the walls. The shack dwellers are the ones who are mostly suffering because
they claim that there was a time when the mine was blasting and more than 3 shacks failed to stay
upright and strong and collapsed, which is something dangerous because people can lose their lives
if the mine is not careful with blasting.
I interviewed one of the society members, and she said  that they need to be thoughtful with what
They do, we as people are affected in too many ways, we are also trying to survive, but the mine is
making our life more difficult because now we have to stress about it, and it’s blasting while we
should be focusing on finding jobs since they say we don’t qualify to work there.
Mine blasting also causes air pollution. When they blast, there’s a lot of dust, which leaves the air
people breathe dirty and causes sicknesses in people living in the area.
There are other claims that the mine pays for the damage to the council, but never in my life have I
seen a community councillor knocking door by door or having a meeting asking about the damages
or the health care of people living in the area. Some of the illnesses cannot be handled by the clinic
nurses, but professional doctors can. If they could at least sponsor community members to consult
doctors about their serious illnesses, we could highly blame the mine; in that way, it could be better.
The Explosive Blasting also affects people’s health. The mine can do better with ways of making
things; they should be considerate and should show the community that they care for their health
and buildings.