SAHRC spokesperson Sello Hatang told Mining Weekly last week that it was hoping to make announcements on its recommendations in that timeframe, stressing that this was not a firm commitment.

In March, Johannesburg-based ActionAid released a damaging report accusing Angloplat of human rights abuses in the relocation of communities to make way for platinum-mining, which the miner dismissed as “distressing, one-sided and inaccurate”.

The report led to the SAHRC conducting an investigation into the allegations, which Hatang indicated was nearing completion.

Speaking in a telephone interview, he confirmed that the watchdog had already met with Angloplat, and had received the miner’s submission, including answers to questions, “a couple of weeks ago”.

The SAHRC was now conducting a gap analysis on this information, to establish whether anything was missing. “We are hoping to be done with that by Friday,” said Hatang.

“Then, next week, we will go back to the communities and check for any additional information we are looking for.”

Once this was done, the commission would review all its information and make a decision.
Angloplat spokesperson Simon Tebele declined to comment.

“We will comment when we see what they are saying,” he said.

The nongovernmental organisation released a report in March claiming that the mining giant caused communities surrounding its mines to lose their farmland and access to fresh water.

This led the platinum giant, 77%-owned by Anglo American, to release its own report, entitled ‘The Real Facts’, which called ActionAid’s allegations an “unwarranted attack on its integrity”.

ActionAid South African director Zanele Twala said that the organisation hoped that the SAHRC’s investigation would vindicate or disprove the miner’s allegations.

She said that the most important issues were the alleged loss of community agricultural land and contamination of water.

“We stand by our report,” Twala stressed. She said that some points Angloplat had argued in its rebuttal had been “ludicrous”.

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