This article first appeared in mcejo.org.za
We, the members of MCEJO, have spent the last seven years attending court cases at the Pietermaritzburg High Court to protect our grazing lands and indigenous forests from being cleared and blasted apart by Tendele coal mine and our livelihoods and lives left in tatters. The mine bulldozes homes in its way and expects families in homesteads a mere 500m away from where the mine will be operating 24/7, to continue with their lives and watch their homes fall apart as walls inevitably crack from the blasting. This is no way to live….
Complicated laws in court
In the beginning, going to court was very confusing and intimidating. Complicated laws and unfair judgments made us feel stupid. It has taken all these years to realise that we are not the confused ones. Judges are human and, when confronted by mountains of documents that are full of lies, and clever arguments that distort the truth, they can make decisions that are stupid. This is the reason for being able to appeal a judgement. But it is expensive and time-consuming and often, by the time one’s appeal is heard, enormous damage has been done.
Dismissal of our urgent interdict that we cannot understand
Last year, in July 2023, we could not believe when Judge Koen dismissed our case that was asking for Tendele to be stopped from mining until it redid its EIA. In May 2022 Judge Bam had ruled that the mine’s existing EIA was inadequate and incomplete. She said it had to be redone properly and then sent back to the Minister of the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) for approval.
Then, in February 2023, without an EIA, Tendele said it was going to start clearing and making roads in Emalahleni and Ophondweni. Our lawyers, All Rise, issued an urgent interdict to prevent the mine from any activity until it had completed the EIA, as Judge Bam had ruled. Our matter was eventually heard on 9 June 2023. When the judgement was handed down in July, we were shocked and confused that Judge Koen ruled Tendele could go ahead without an EIA. How is such a thing possible?
All Rise has run EIA workshops in Zulu, and so we know NEMA says a mine must have an EIA before it can start operating. This is to ensure the environment is protected as much as possible. Yet Judge Koen ruled that Tendele can destroy the environment at the same time as doing the EIA. This makes no sense to us. What if the EIA is not accepted? Or if the EIA approves something different to what Tendele is doing now? How will this be fixed?
Judge Koen dismissed our case on two grounds:
- we had not asked the Minister of DMRE to suspend Tendele’s mining right until the EIA had been approved; and
- we had not proved we had a right and he found that Judge Bam’s judgment did not preclude Tendele from starting operations before it completed the EIA.
We find this unbelievable. After this judgement we no longer feel stupid about not understanding the way the law courts work.
Zulu Traditional Laws we understand
As rural Zulu farmers, our lives are guided by our traditional laws that teach us we belong to the land of our ancestors, our Great Grandfathers and Great Grandmothers, who came before us and who are buried in our ancestral land. The law of the courts says it is right to dig up our ancestral graves. This is unprecedented in our area.
A couple of weeks ago some of us watched in horror as a huge TLB dug up a coffin that had been buried 27 years ago. As the coffin was lifted into the air, pieces of the body fell back into the grave. The mother had to look in the coffin to check that it was the body of her buried son. Her painful screams filled the air and broke everyone’s hearts. A policeman who was there to witness what was happening said he wondered how he would be able to sleep that night. We all felt the same way. A law that allows this is barbaric. Disrespect of the ancestors and of Mother Earth will not go unpunished.
Laws of Nature we understand
We are traditional farmers who understand and follow the laws of Nature. We understand the importance of biodiversity and a healthy landscape with rivers, streams, and wetlands beyond our fields where we can find food, fruit, medicinal plants, building materials and firewood and where our cattle can graze and drink water and our children can play safely and people pray there. These places are also very important in mitigating climate change.
