Marikana Mining Communities’ Shutdown of Tharisa Mine
Marikana Cluster Crisis Movement is organising a march on 11/03/2021 to shut down Tharisa Mine until vital demands are met.
Marikana, North West
Nine years after the 34 miners were murdered, mines have failed the communities living within their operations. These communities still languish under the boot of oppressive mining magnates, which operate with little to no accountability to anyone but their shareholders. We demand that the promises made by these mines in and around Marikana are immediately fulfilled, or at the very least, addressed, and that communities are given top priority in terms of meaningful development.
• The promise to provide housing for the community has been reneged
• Shares in the mines were promised to the community, yet there has been no indication of this promise being fulfilled.
• There is a lack of skills transfer for unemployed youth and a lack of job opportunities
• Mining communities have been abandoned by the very mines which have taken control over the land for their own gain
• There is no robust social or labour plan for communities
Tharisa, Sibanye, Samancor, Chrome Tech, BapoTrans mining communities in the North West will march on the 11th of March 2021, to demand that these mines fulfil their promises made to communities.
After 2012, nothing was done to address the problems of criminally inadequate living standards for communities. While mineworkers’ needs were addressed, communities, which bear the brunt of mining operations just as miners do, have been sidelined. A broad swath of community organisations have mobilised, including with the taxi industry and will be shutting down Tharisa mine, which has been particularly complicit in reneging its promises around social development.
Tharisa has relocated graves illegally and would now like to add insult to injury, by relocating the community using systems that will demonstrably hurt the community’s wellbeing.
The mine has exclusively employed white Afrikaners in management, and has deployed former police general Mr William Mbembe, the police general responsible for the massacre at Marikana in 2012. Dissent against the mines have been stifled through intimidation tactics.
While the mine promised to build housing for the community, they are instead attempting to slip out of accountability and doll out R30 000 per family instead, in an attempt to buy out the desperate community – this money would simply disappear into meeting basic needs such as food and electricity.
6% of shares were promised to the community as a whole, via the Mmaditlhlokwa Community Trust, yet this has conveniently failed to materialise. The details of registration of these dividends were never shared with the community.
Demands:
The following is a list of demands which should be responded to by the mine with immediate effect:
1. We demand 800 jobs immediately.
2. Business opportunities for local companies
3. An upgrade of the taxi rank.
4. Shelters for hawkers.
5. Public toilets to accommodate the public.
6. Review the recruitment policy which disadvantages the marginalised.
7. The trust fund report and the names of the trustees since the formation of the Mmaditlhlokwa Community Trust.
8. A robust social and labour plan.
9. We demand an urgent relocation plan.
10. We demand the grave relocation report, since there are missing graves.
11. Opportunities for local SMME’s in both mining and other projects.
12. We demand that directors of the mine resign from Rocasize Pty (Ltd) as it is reported that it’s a community company.
13. We demand the removal of William Mpempe from the mine as he is has a history of undermining workers’ rights and sabotage community interests.
14. We also demand the removal of Thabang Gabriel Maluke from his position, as his actions have actively divided the community.
15. We demand to have representation within procurement department.
16. We demand the minerals that are situated within Mmaditlhokwa to be mined by the community.
17. Tharisa should stop blasting within the radius with immediate effect.
18. Tharisa must produce the scope of work that was used for the bridge, which is not safe for our community.
19. We demand a skills transfer for all unemployed youth.
20. We demand learnership programs for our youth after matric.
Issued here by C19PC North West Working Group on behalf of the Marikana Cluster Crisis Movement
Contacts for further information
Mr Masha: 071 308 3303
Mr Ndlovu: 079 321 3871
