The Department of Mineral Resources cannot grant mining rights to Australian mining giant Transworld Energy and Mineral Resources (TEM) without the full and informed consent of the Xolobeni community, says the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.
This is a massive victory for the community which has for years been fighting TEM’s efforts to mine titanium in the environmentally sensitive and pristine Xolobeni area on the Wild Coast.
In its far-reaching judgment, the court declared that the Interim Protection of Informal Land Act required the DMR to obtain the full and informed consent of the community as holders of rights in the land prior to granting any mining right to TEM, a subsidiary of Mineral Commodities Resources (MCR).
Attorney for the Amadiba Crisis Committee, Richard Spoor, has hailed it as a huge step towards secure tenure for rural communities and a big victory for the Xolobeni community...