Members of the Stilfontein Solidarity Committee(SSC) say Government is to blame for the recent disaster, as well as a legacy left by colonial mining practices.
The SSC is made up of the Mining Affected Communities United in Action (MACUA), the South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU), General Industries Workers Union of South Africa (GIWUSA), Lawyers for Human Rights (LGR), the South African Green Revolutionary Council BMF (SAGRC), Bench Marks Foundation, Foundation for Human Rights (FHR), Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS), Action Aid South Africa (AASA), London Mining Network and the Centre for Environmental Rights (CER).
In a nutshell, the SSC said in a joint statement, mining in colonial times, forced black men to work in mines for a wage.
This was instilled over 150 years, leading to reliance on the sector.
But when mines close, locals are left destitute and jobless.
This is when artisanal mining creeps in to
fill the void left by the departure of these mining companies.
“But government has failed to understand the dire situation ghost towns like Stilfontein face, once the mines have left.”
Therefore, SSC said the state must take responsibility “for the ways in which they have allowed mining companies to operate with impunity and for allowing these mining companies to leave open holes in the ground and have allowed mining companies to abandon workers from other countries, leaving them in South Africa without jobs and without alternatives.”
The coalition wants Government to fasttrack amendments to the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA), to establish long lasting solutions, by involving communities and civil society in the decision-making process.
They also want law enforcement agencies to increase day to day policing.