Mogalakwena mine resolution of community protests
11 September, 2015
Anglo American Platinum welcomes and supports the multi-stakeholder intervention the Department of Mineral Resources' Minister Ramatlhodi has brokered for the communities of the Mapela to find a sustainable solution to the recent community protests.
The community protests have impacted Mogalakwena mine operations which have been operating in a scaled down manner resulting in a total lost platinum production of 8,600 ounces.
Through the intervention facilitated by Minister Ramatlhodi, the company, community of Mapela and other key stakeholders have agreed on a roadmap to resolve the dispute.
The roadmap identifies a number of actions, including:
- The immediate creation of a task team by the Municipality and composed of representatives from all villages to draw up and agree on Terms of Reference for engagement. The task team will revisit agreements entered into between the company and the relocated villages and agree on any outstanding action and implementation.
- The Department of Education will make the necessary arrangements to ensure that the Seritarita High School is re-opened from Monday, 14 September. Transportation of the learners and other logistical support will be provided by Anglo American Platinum in support of the school and Department of Education.
- Blasting schedules close to Seritarita High School will be discussed and agreed upon between the community leaders of Leruleng and Skeeming communities and should not interfere with the learning process.
The South African Human Rights Commission will continue to engage the representatives of the villages that were not represented at the DMR facilitated engagement to ensure that they are part of the task team and that the task team meetings proceed as contemplated.
The company has agreed to waive the ‘no-work no-pay’ principle towards the employees who were unable to report to work due to the community protests. This is a once-off, good faith gesture and does not set precedent for future conduct.
All Mogalakwena mine employees are expected to work on Saturday, 12 September.
The company is committed to continue to support further development plans in the communities surrounding Mogalakwena mine in the areas of education, health, & enterprise and infrastructure development.
Background information on Seritarita High School:
In 2003 the school community at Seritarita complained about the negative impact in the form of dust, tremors and noise which they were experiencing as a result of the mining activities at Mogalakwena mine. Consultation by company management with the community, represented by the Mapela Tribal Authority under Kgoshigadi AR Langa and tribal council, Limpopo Department of Education (DoE) – Mapela Circuit Education, the Seritarita High School (SGB) commenced in 2003.
During this engagement process, it was agreed at the time that the mine would build a new school about 10-12km away from the old school in the land belonging to the Mapela Traditional Authority. In 2005, the construction of the new school by the mine commenced and it was completed in 2007.
The new school remained unused for 4-years after it was handed over by the mine to the DoE. From 2014 the DoE started using the school for technical training purposes as the Phaladingwe Technical School.
In July 2015, the DoE moved the Seritarita learners from the old school to the new school at Phaladingwe Technical School. This move has been met with some resistance from learners and the community and hence the DoE’s decision to now re-open the old school until a lasting solution can be found.