According to a report published last month by the Centre for Environmental Rights (CER), government’s failure to ensure that mining companies comply with South African laws is causing significant environmental degradation in Mpumalanga and chronic health problems for residents near mining operations in the country’s coal hub.

The CER states that the situation has arisen as a result of neglect, limited resources and “wilful inaction” by the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) and the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS).
The report, titled ‘Zero Hour: Poor Governance of Mining and the Violation of Environmental Rights in Mpumalanga’, draws on evidence spanning more than five years, including research reports; court and prelitigation cases; parliamentary submissions, questions and answers; access to information requests; meetings with the DMR and the DWS; field visits and community meetings; and meetings with mining companies and local government officials.
CER mining programme head Catherine Horsfield notes that, from 2005 to 2010, prospecting and mining application increased by more than 300%, with 61.3% of the province’s surface under prospecting and mining rights applications in 2014. The majority of these applications were for coal.

“Civil society and even other government agencies have repeatedly called on the DMR and the DWS to comply with the law by refusing licence applications that will cause unacceptable pollution and degradation. Instead, they continue to grant licences with blatant disregard for the consequences for water resources, health, biodiversity, air quality and food security.”

Horsfield says that many of the mining and water use licences granted by the DMR and the DWS in the past decade use water from Mpumalanga’s most important rivers, located in protected areas, which provides about 50% of the country’s freshwater runoff.

“By granting mining and water-use rights in these areas, the DMR and the DWS are risking South Africa’s water security and enabling large-scale pollution of these resources,” she avers.

Water security is not the only concern raised in report, which found that the expansion of mining activity in Mpumalanga has had devastating effects on agriculture in the province.

“Mining destroys agriculture, as it involves the removal of huge quantities of topsoil. A mere 1.5% of South Africa’s soils are considered to have high agriculture potential and nearly half – 46.6% – of that is in Mpumalanga. If mining continues at [its current] rate, about 12% of the country’s total high-potential arable land will be ruined, with dire consequences for food security,” Horsfield asserts.

Further, mining in Mpumalanga has also had a severe impact on the air quality in mining areas, subsequently also impacting on the health of communities. According to the report, with 5 000 coal trucks using Mpumalanga’s roads daily, dust from mine haul roads contributes an estimated 49% of nitrogen dioxide pollution in the Highveld Air Pollution Priority Area.

Horsfield says: “Communities in Mpumalanga are exposed to water, soil, noise and dust pollution – all contributing to ill health – and many experience social disruption, ranging from increased crime to forced resettlement.”

She adds that marginalised communities suffer the most as settlements are often located in close proximity to coal operations and houses crack owing to blasting operations and, at times, collapse through subsidence.

“With environmental noncompliance left unchecked, mines continuously leach toxic water into groundwater and surface water, on which many people depend.”

According to the report, neither the DMR nor the DWS has enough officials to review licence applications, and monitor and enforce legal compliance in Mpumalanga.

Last year, there were 239 operating mines and 788 derelict and ownerless mines in the province, with only five DMR officials monitoring compliance with environmental laws at these mines. The DWS employed two officials in Mpumalanga to perform compliance monitoring and enforcement functions during the same period.

“Without regular compliance monitoring and predictable enforcement action, companies are left to their own devices. “The State’s failure to prioritise compliance violates environmental and other human rights, and facilitates rights violations by mining companies,” Horsfield says.