Forget about the Big Man in Africa – look to the Big Man in Britain.
Mining activists in London this week accused a corporate investor of being the financial force behind the deadly battle to mine the dunes of Xolobeni.
He is Graham Edwards, chartered accountant and chief executive of investment company Telereal Trillium.
On Thursday activists from several anti-mining campaigns from around the world staged a picket outside the company’s glittering glass skyrise offices at 140 London Wall. The 20 protesters hoisted a rough sheet with words daubed in red: “No mining Amadiba land.”
They handed out pamphlets accusing Edwards of being the second biggest shareholder in Australian-listed mining company Mineral Resources (MRC), which is at the forefront of the drive to mine Xolobeni.
The protestors’ main call was for Edwards to divest from MRC.
They said in their pamphlet the assassination on March 29 of Amadiba Crisis Committee chairman Sikosiphi “Bazooka” Rhadebe at Mbizana near Xolobeni had brought the death toll of people opposed to MRC’s project to four.
The pamphlet was supported by the Pan-Afrikan Society Community Forum, Caribbean Labour Solidarity, Colombia Solidarity, the Gaia Foundation and War on Want.
Although MRC’s Australian CEO Mark Caruso is the company’s major shareholder, Kingston University associate professor Andy Higginbottom, who was part of the picket, says it is Edwards who is “the biggest beneficiary of MRC shareholdings”.
On Facebook, Edwards did not reply to this analysis but he rejected allegations by demonstrators that he was linked to the Xolobeni violence and urged protestors to take any evidence of this to the police. — mikel@dispatch.co.za
Xolobeni battle surfaces in London
Mining activists in London this week accused a corporate investor of being the financial force behind the deadly battle to mine the dunes of Xolobeni.
He is Graham Edwards, chartered accountant and chief executive of investment company Telereal Trillium.
On Thursday activists from several anti-mining campaigns from around the world staged a picket outside the company’s glittering glass skyrise offices at 140 London Wall. The 20 protesters hoisted a rough sheet with words daubed in red: “No mining Amadiba land.”
They handed out pamphlets accusing Edwards of being the second biggest shareholder in Australian-listed mining company Mineral Resources (MRC), which is at the forefront of the drive to mine Xolobeni.
The protestors’ main call was for Edwards to divest from MRC.
They said in their pamphlet the assassination on March 29 of Amadiba Crisis Committee chairman Sikosiphi “Bazooka” Rhadebe at Mbizana near Xolobeni had brought the death toll of people opposed to MRC’s project to four.
The pamphlet was supported by the Pan-Afrikan Society Community Forum, Caribbean Labour Solidarity, Colombia Solidarity, the Gaia Foundation and War on Want.
Although MRC’s Australian CEO Mark Caruso is the company’s major shareholder, Kingston University associate professor Andy Higginbottom, who was part of the picket, says it is Edwards who is “the biggest beneficiary of MRC shareholdings”.
On Facebook, Edwards did not reply to this analysis but he rejected allegations by demonstrators that he was linked to the Xolobeni violence and urged protestors to take any evidence of this to the police. — mikel@dispatch.co.za
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