Mineral resources minister Gwede Mantashe will have his hands full at the weekend as he tries to defuse growing opposition to mining on community-owned land in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape Wild Coast.
Mantashe is scheduled to hold meetings with three communities over three days from Friday‚ seeking to calm tensions that have emerged over current and future coal and heavy-mineral mining plans‚ including a high court case in which community members are demanding the immediate closure of the Somkhele coal mine on the border of the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Game Reserve.
He will also be visiting the Xolobeni area on the Wild Coast‚ where an Australian-backed dune-mining venture has been put on hold following the unsolved murder of prominent anti-mining leader Bazooka Radebe.
The Department of Mineral Resources said Mantashe’s weekend visit formed part of the “ongoing frank and open discussions” with mining companies‚ communities and other stakeholders “to rebuild relationships and levels of trust”.
On Friday he will meet representatives of the Zululand Anthracite Colliery and KwaMlaba community near Ulundi‚ in northern KZN‚ to discuss recent tensions that have included arson attacks on coal trucks and a mine shaft.