The Xolobeni mining community is not celebrating yet despite its landmark victory in the Pretoria High Court in November, ruling against the mining of their land going ahead without their consent.
Speaking at an Amnesty International (AI) press conference in Johannesburg on Monday, Amadiba Crisis Committee spokesperson Nonhle Mbuthuma said she didn’t trust the government to leave their land alone.
The community took the government to court to prevent it awarding mining rights for the sand dunes to be mined for titanium oxide. Judge Annali Basson found the Interim Protection of Informal Land Rights Act gave customary communities the right to say what happens to their land and trumped the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, which does not require community consent before the government gives mining a thumbs up...