Mineral Resources Minister, Mosebenzi Zwane, has placed an 18-month moratorium on the application by an Australian Company to mine titanium at Xolobeni in the former Transkei.
That's according to the Legal Resources Centre, which is representing members of the Xolobeni Community who are opposed to the mining ambitions of Transworld Energy and Mineral Resources South Africa, the local subsidiary of the Australian mining company, Mineral Commodities Limited.
The LRC said in coming to the decision, Minister Zwane, had referred to the, "significant social disintegration and highly volatile nature of the current situation in the area".
Matters came to a head last year when the chairperson of the Amadiba Crisis Committee, Sikhosipi Radebe, was brutally murdered.
Meanwhile, the LRC says it will file a Declaration of Rights application in the High Court in a bid to secure assurances from government that mining rights will not be granted without the proper consent of the local community as required both under customary law and under the Interim Protection of Informal Rights to Land Act of 1996.
In a statement the LRC said the Minister gave stakeholders 21 days to submit presentations on the moratorium.
"The Legal Resources Centre, together with Richard Spoor Attorneys, are currently representing the Umgungundlovu Inkosana's Council, the Amadiba Crisis Committee and 128 adults representing more than 65 households within the proposed mining area in Xolobeni. After suing for access to TEM's mining right application, the Umgungundlovu community filed an objection to the mining right application of MRC to mine in the area on 04 March 2016," the LRC said.
"The objection to the mining right application highlighted various defects in the mining right application. Fundamentally, the objection noted that MRC had failed to seek the consent of the community. The community argues that they have constitutionally recognised customary rights of ownership over the land that was flouted by the mining right application by TEM."
"The Deputy Minister of Mineral Resources, Mr Godfrey Oliphant, attended a meeting hosted by the South African Police Services in the area on 19 July 2016. At that meeting the Deputy Minister said that the decision whether or not to grant the mining right was solely within the discretion of the Minister and that the consent of the community was not required."
"On the 31 August 2016, the LRC and Richard Spoor Attorneys wrote to the Minister demanding an assurance that the mining right will not be granted to TEM without the consent of the community. This assurance was sought on the basis that the grant of a mining right would result in the community being deprived of their rights in their land, that it would be unlawful if it was done without their prior consent as required both under customary law and under the Interim Protection of Informal Rights to Land Act of 1996."
"We gave the Minister until the 9 September to give this assurance, failing which, on behalf of the members of the Xolobeni community that we represent, we would file a "declaration of rights application" in the High Court based on the Minister's power to prohibit or restrict prospecting or mining. In that letter we also said that "TEM's applications for prospecting and mining rights [over the past decade] in respect of our clients' land has resulted in conflict, division and violence that has had a very negative impact on the Umgungundlovu community and on the wider Amadiba community. Our clients have a real concern that absent any agreement, the award of a mining right would worsen the situation."
"On Monday, the court application will be launched in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria. The moratorium on mining will now give the community interim relief while the Court determines whether the community's consent is required."
"While customary law and the rights arising from it are fully recognised by the Constitution, few communities have been able to assert these rights successfully in practice. The Umgungundlovu community's application for a declarator confirming their rights will be a significant step in realising the historically neglected customary ownership rights of rural communities," the LRC said.
