TENDELE Coal has been ordered to halt mining at the Somkhele coal mine in KwaZulu-Natal province pending the outcome of renewed court hearings due to resume on June 9.
The ruling was made by Pietermartizburg High Court judge Paul Wallis during an urgent court hearing on May 26 brought by the Mfolozi Community Environmental Justice Organisation (Mcejo).
The community group argued that Tendele had prematurely sent bulldozers and other heavy earthmoving equipment on to community land last week before the legality of its mining plans was adjudicated in court.
Tendele responded that Mcejo represented a few hundred people in a broader community of about 220,000 people, the majority of whom were said to support the mining.
“This temporary halt in operations has been met with concern and frustration from community members affected as reflected in the attached press statement by the community,” said Tendele community development director Nathi Kunene.
Kunene said the company was determined to appear in court on June 9 to “demonstrate the lawfulness of Tendele’s operations and the importance of the mine to the local community and the national economy”.
A dispute over the expansion of Somkhele has been underway for at least three years. It grabbed national attention in October 2020 following the murder of Fikile Ntshangase, an activist who opposed the expansion.
Since then, the mine has received an environmental and mining permit with the only impediment to restarting operations being minority MCEJO’s objections.
Tendele retrenched 1,600 employees in the absence of mining. It claims environmental objections to the expansion are denying 20,000 people who rely on the mine for employment or receive the benefits of commercial activity in the region provided by the mine.
