Wild Coast anti-mining leader murdered

[Toko]

http://www.fin24.com/Companies/Mining/w ... d-20160323

Mar 23 2016 11:57 Matthew le Cordeur



Cape Town – An anti-mining group on the Eastern Cape Wild Coast has reacted with shock to the murder of its chairperson on Tuesday evening.

Amadiba Crisis Committee chairperson Sikhosiphi "Bazooka" Rhadebe was shot multiple times in his upper body, Eastern Cape police spokesperson Lt Khaya Tonjeni told Fin24 on Wednesday.

“Mzamba SAPS can confirm that a case of murder is under investigation following the shooting incident reported yesterday at Plangeni, Lurholweni Township, Mbizana at about 21:30,” said Tonjeni.

The murder was termed "an assassination" by committee members Mzamo Dlamini and Nonhle Mbuthuma. “Bazooka made the ultimate sacrifice defending our ancestral land of Amadiba on the Wild Coast,” they said in a statement issued on Wednesday.

“The hitmen came in a white Polo with a rotating blue lamp on the roof. Two men knocked at the door saying they were the police. Mr Rhadebe was shot with eight bullets in the head. He died defending his young son, who witnessed the murder. His son and his wife are now in hospital.”

The murder comes amid escalating violence in the area, which the committee alleges is linked to Australian mining company MRC’s decade-long bid to mine Xolobeni for the space-age titanium mineral.

MRC chairperson Mark Caruso was not aware of the incident when contacted by Fin24 on Wednesday. “I am not in a position to comment with any authority as I am uninformed of any of the facts surrounding this incident, save other than to say that we do not condone violence in any form. It is tragic that a man has lost his life regardless of the circumstances, which in all fairness, despite, the article, are yet to be established.”

While the anti-mining group said it “will not be intimidated into submission” by MRC, Caruso said: “The company is in no way implicated in any form whatsoever in this incident. Statements to the contrary are simply unfounded. This company will not engage in any activity that incites violence.”

Open letter to public protector

In response to the murder, social worker John Clarke told Fin24 on Wednesday that he will be writing an open letter to the Public Protector following a lack of investigation by police into a previous case relating to Rhadebe, who allegedly had refused to accept a bribe over mining rights.

“As a result of the investigation going cold, a man has now lost his life,” he said, adding that he had been tasked by the Amadiba Crisis Committee in his role a social worker to ensure justice was served.

The murder comes after the community blocked MRC from drilling in the area. “There was a recently planned drilling programme to deliver fresh drinking water, (which) was withdrawn in an attempt to hose down any potential violent confrontation between pro and anti-mining lobby groups,” Caruso told Fin24 on Wednesday.

However, Clarke alleges the fresh water drilling was an attempt to scan for minerals.

“That was clearly a pretense,” he said in a Fin24 opinion piece. “Reliable sources have told me that the company is desperate to update their now 15-year old analysis of the composition of the heavy mineral deposits and are actually needing to drill more core samples to reassure increasingly nervous shareholders that the game is worth the candle.”

Caruso told Fin24 in January that MRC subsidiary TEM had submitted a mining rights application to the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) on March 4 2015. This process involves the submission of a scoping report within 44 days of the application, which was accepted by the DMR, he said.

“The company must undertake an environmental impact assessment (EIA) and submit an EIA report inclusive of specialist reports and an Environmental Management Plan (EMP). This is currently being undertaken and is due for submission on or around April 2016,” said Caruso.

“Accordingly, the DMR is yet to receive the full EIA and EMP. This process is being hindered by the anti-mining groups championed by John Clarke.

“There is a prescriptive process, which involves public participation (PP) by all interested and affected parties, (IAPs). This allows all IAPs to be heard in public forums and their comments recorded and submitted with the EIA.”


FULL OPINION STORY: Wild Coast titanium remains ‘unobtainium’ http://www.fin24.com/Opinion/wild-coast ... m-20160304
FULL STORY: Court battle linked to Wild Coast mining rights heats up http://www.fin24.com/Companies/Mining/c ... p-20160111

[Puff Addy]

[Lisbeth]

Where are we? In the far West or during the Klondike "gold rush" at the end of the 19th century

[Richprins]

It's not called the Wild Coast for nothing...one of our most remote and unspoilt coastal areas!

[Puff Addy]

Australian mining company denies role in murder of South African activist

Campaigners claim death of Sikhosiphi Rhadebe is an escalation of violence against opponents of a mine owned by Perth’s Mineral Commodities Limited

Joshua Robertson

Friday 25 March 2016 02.10 GMT

An Australian-owned mining company has denied any link to the murder of an activist leading a campaign against its plans to mine titanium in South Africa.

Sikhosiphi “Bazooka” Rhadebe was gunned down at his home in Xolobeni on South Africa’s Wild Coast on Tuesday, in what fellow activists claimed was an escalation of violence and intimidation against local opponents of a mine owned by Perth-based Mineral Commodities Limited (MRC).

MRC, which has repeatedly denied inciting violence involving its supporters, said it was “in no way implicated in any form whatsoever in this incident”.

Mzamo Dlamini is a fellow activist who believes he is among the “prime targets” on the anti-mining Amadiba crisis committee following Rhadebe’s death.

Despite fearing for his life, Dlamini vowed to continue organising resistance to a project that campaigners said would force the relocation of an estimated 100 households and up to 1,000 people.

“The assassination affects us all,” he said. “There will be more Bazookas long after we have died.”

Six people associated with the mining venture were subject to court orders last May after a clash over land access, during which a TEM director fired a “warning shot” in the air.

Four people, including an alleged employee of another MRC mine at Tormin, are due to face court next month over alleged assault and intimidation, including with firearms, of mining opponents in Xolobeni in December. These allegations are yet to come before a court and there is no suggestion these or any other employees were involved in Rhadebe’s murder.

Unathi Ximbi, the defence lawyer engaged by TEM to act in the first case, is also representing the men in the second. He told Guardian Australia the company had neither arranged nor paid for their defence. Ximbi said he could not recall whether any of them were company employees.

Rhadebe was shot eight times in the head in front of his son, who told investigators the killers had posed as police.

Less than two hours before his death, Rhadebe called fellow committee member Nonhle Mbuthuma to check on her safety, telling her there was a “hit list” that included both of them and Dlamini.

MRC in a statement said it was “not in a position to comment with any authority on the incident” but any claims it was in any way implicated were “simply unfounded”.

“Despite our own internal enquiries, we are no further informed as to any of the specific facts surrounding this incident other than what has been reported,” it said.

“The company does not condone violence in any form and it is tragic that a man has lost his life regardless of the circumstances, which … are yet to be established.

“This company will not engage in any activity that incites violence.

“The company will cooperate fully with any investigations into this incident and takes this opportunity to extend its condolences to the family and loved ones of Mr Sikhosiphi Rhadebe.”

MRC’s executive chairman, Mark Caruso, did not respond to specific questions from Guardian Australia.

Dlamini said he had reservations about the police investigation after committee members and mining opponents were targeted in repeat raids looking for weapons following provocation by pro-mining “thugs”.

“I don’t see [the police] doing anything about it at all,” he said.

Dlamini called on Caruso to act by dismissing any employee of TEM or Xolco linked to violence and intimidation of the company’s critics.

“Bazooka has been brokering peace,” Dlamini said. “He met his [Caruso’s] brother Patrick Caruso to discuss the problems, who said they did not support the violence.

“They made us to understand they did not want violence, they want peace and then to develop the area. But ... people here are being killed.”

Lawyer Henk Smith of the Legal Resources Centre, which has acted for landholders opposing MRC’s Tormin mine, said the killing of Rhadebe, a “principled democrat”, had likely ended the prospect of conciliation meetings between the miner and its opponents.

“I think the company has made a few statements condemning the violence but it comes after the event and the company has never taken any steps to encourage conciliation or mediation or consultation even a meeting,” Smith said.

“In fact the company shies away from meeting the community which as a result, there’ll be little chance of simply starting a process of meetings now.

“The company is in effect refusing to accept that it’s got to negotiate with the community and are relying on an interpretation of the law in South Africa that they must consult affected people about mitigation of environmental impact and their responsibility goes no further.

“For the rest, they’ve got [to] swallow what the company offers.”

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/ ... n-activist