The Australian Mining company, Mineral Commodities LTD (MRC), that has proposed to mine on the ancestral land of Amadiba community in the Eastern, will on the 25 of May hold its Annual General meeting in Perth, Australia.
With the on-going crisis and the recent killing of the Amadiba Activist, Sikhosiphi Bazooka Rhadebe, there is a further call to halt the proposal to mine on the Amadiba Land.
To support this call, activists and those standing in solidarity with the Amadiba communities are invited to join a protest that will be held outside Tormin Offices in Lutzville on the 25 of May 2016.
Tormin mine, opened in March 2014, extracts zircon and other minerals from sand on the west coast near Vredendal, about 400 kilometres north of Cape Town. It is owned by Australia’s Mineral Commodities (MRC) group, which also owns the Xolobeni titanium project in the Eastern Cape, which is being opposed by residents of the area.
The protest is organised by the Lutzvile community, fishermen and dismissed workers of Tormin.
The company is said to have forced and intimidated workers to resign while local fishermen are against the mine because it affects their livelihood and existence as fisherman.
Fisher’s say that the mine is polluting the river mouth where the Olifants River runs into the sea and this is where fish are breeding.
Australian environmental and human rights organisations condemn the assassination of Sikhosiphi ‘Bazooka’ Radebe.
There is also a statement by 26 Australian NGOs, unions and churches calling on MRC to suspend and withdraw their Xolobeni mine proposal on Amadiba ancestral lands.
This is on the grounds that there is a long and well-documented history of conflict around the proposed development and lack of free, prior and informed consent from the Amadiba people.
‘Australians are also calling for an active and transparent role in immediately ending the violence and intimidation against community opposed to the proposed Xolobeni mine and to support all efforts to secure justice for the assassination of Sikhosiphi ‘Bazooka’ Radebe.”
Read the statement here: https://standwithamadiba.wordpress.com/2016/05/18/joint-statement/