The struggle against mining in Xolobeni will not be derailed by the killing of firebrand anti-mining activist Sikhosiphi “Bazooka” Radebe – instead it will be intensified.
Amadiba Crisis Committee (ACC) secretary Nonhle Mbuthuma made the vow at Radebe’s funeral on Saturday. He would turn in his grave if they abandoned the struggle, she said.
“No matter what happens, the struggle continues. As our chairman Bazooka Radebe used to tell us, when you are in a struggle you are going to lose soldiers but it does not mean that will be the end of the struggle. You just to need to stay focused on fighting because if you don’t, your enemy is going to defeat you.”
The funeral, at Radebe’s ancestral home in Mdatya village in Xolobeni near Mbizana, was attended by hundreds of people, including international media and environmentalists.
Radebe, 51, who had chaired the ACC since its inception in 2007, was murdered after assailants posing as police officers shot him eight times in Mdatya village last Tuesday.
For more than 10 years, Radebe had led the fight against Transworld Energy & Mineral Resources and its BEE company, Xolobeni Empowerment, over its application for a licence to mine about nine million tons of titanium from sand dunes along a 22km stretch of the Wild Coast.
The group is opposed to the proposed opencast titanium mine at Xolobeni.
Mining struggle set to continue
Amadiba Crisis Committee (ACC) secretary Nonhle Mbuthuma made the vow at Radebe’s funeral on Saturday. He would turn in his grave if they abandoned the struggle, she said.
“No matter what happens, the struggle continues. As our chairman Bazooka Radebe used to tell us, when you are in a struggle you are going to lose soldiers but it does not mean that will be the end of the struggle. You just to need to stay focused on fighting because if you don’t, your enemy is going to defeat you.”
The funeral, at Radebe’s ancestral home in Mdatya village in Xolobeni near Mbizana, was attended by hundreds of people, including international media and environmentalists.
Radebe, 51, who had chaired the ACC since its inception in 2007, was murdered after assailants posing as police officers shot him eight times in Mdatya village last Tuesday.
For more than 10 years, Radebe had led the fight against Transworld Energy & Mineral Resources and its BEE company, Xolobeni Empowerment, over its application for a licence to mine about nine million tons of titanium from sand dunes along a 22km stretch of the Wild Coast.
The group is opposed to the proposed opencast titanium mine at Xolobeni.
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