Mining-affected communities will on Monday embark on a march to the Union Buildings to hand over a memorandum and petitions to President Cyril Ramaphosa and Minister Gwede Mantashe. 

The communities who are from across South Africa are calling on the President to immediately take steps to ensure that the voice of mining affected communities is centred in mining-related legislation, and that they are given an opportunity to agree or disagree with mining in their communities.  

Members of the media are invited under the following details: 

DATE: 12 October 2020 

VENUE: Union Buildings, Tshwane 

TIME: 09h00 - 13h00

The date of the 12th of October was specifically chosen to coincide with the date that the Eastern Cape Xolobeni community is due to ask the Pretoria North High Court to dismiss the Minister of Mineral Resources appeal against the November 2018 Baleni (Xolobeni) judgement on the grounds that almost two years later, the minister has failed to prosecute his appeal.

The Baleni judgement affirmed that communities must provide their consent before mining takes place on their land in line with the principle of Free Prior and Informed Consent. 

 For RSVP and media interviews, kindly contact:

Gilbert Moela on 079 777 6175 or Sabelo Mnguni  083 563 8985