Community protests in SA’s restive Mpumalanga coal district far from finished

PROTESTS in South Africa’s Mpumalanga province were likely to remain a feature of the coal industry for the foreseeable future, said South32 COO, Mike Fraser.

“It’s still very fractious. We do expect the protests to continue,” said Fraser who was commenting in an interview following the announcement the firm had agreed a binding, conditional offer to sell its thermal coal unit to Seriti Resources.

The Minerals Council South Africa said earlier this year coal miners had lost millions of rands in revenue as a result of mine stoppages following community-related protests. The protests are sometimes driven by local political interests.

The lack of support from the South African Police Services has also been criticised by the Minerals Council. Fraser said this remained a problem, specifically with another consequence of community disaffection which manifested in illegal mining of coal dumps.

“We are trying to get the police to help with this, but it’s hard. It’s not a very savoury situation,” said Fraser. “The Mineral Council South Africa is working with ministers across the board to tackle the problem.”

On October 11, several hundred demonstrators marched on South32’s Johannesburg corporate office wearing tee-shirts bearing the words: ‘Seriti is the new Guptas’. ‘Guptas’ is a reference to the family of three brothers who are accused of having mismanaged the Optimum and Koornfontein coal mines which are now in business rescue.

Commenting on the recent march on the firm’s offices, Fraser said protests of this ilk were typical of the different interests competing for air time in the country’s coal sector.

“After we first announced the Seriti deal we had a spike in protests,” said Fraser. “Many of those fronting the march on our offices were motivated by special interests.”

The Emalahleni Joint Structure (EJS) had written to the South African government to say certain certain protests, including the backers of the march to South32’s offices, had no legitimacy. “We are confident we have the right structure to resolve the protests in the long run,” said Fraser.

The EJS was established by the Minerals Council South Africa in joint venture with Mpumalanga community representatives earlier this year in order to resolve the some of the problems voiced by coal mining communities which include access to procurement and jobs.