ANC regime-owned companies Msobo Coal and Harwar Colliery are all set to destroy the pristine Chrissiesmeer Bioversity Lakes Area in Mpumalanga with their coal-mining - even going so far as to send in organized, aggressive black protestors to disrupt public hearings being held on the impact of coal-mining on this pristine lake area -- with protestors accusing the hearings of being 'for whites only'.
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By Franz Fuls. Picture: Johann Tempelhoff - During a chaotic public meeting by the formerly ANC-owned, now defunct company Xstrata’s successor, Msobo Coal, announces its plans to mine inside the Chrissiesmeer Biodiversity Area, Mpumalanga, South Africa.
On 26 March 2013 the ANC-owned Msobo Coal held a public meeting to discuss their intention to mine inside the Chrissiesmeer biodiversity site. This project is named the Harwar Colliery, the name of one of the farms to be destroyed by their operation. Harwar is an Afrikaans word, meaning ‘complete and utter chaos’. That is exactly what the attendees of this meeting experienced when members of the local black community were sent in to disrupt the meeting.
The Chrissiesmeer biodiversity site is located on the Mpumalanga Highveld, currently a hotspot for opencast mining activities characterised by encroachment on wetlands including Weltevreden Pan in Delmas and the Lakenvlei in Dullstroom.
Alta Neumann, facilitator for the meeting, first marched the attendees to the meeting through Msobo’s presentation, where Andries Wilke of Digby Wells explained the extent of the planned operation. Even at this very early scoping phase Digby Wells already envisions various environmental and social issues including pollution, dust, noise, vibration and aesthetics for the Harwar Colliery.
Local farmers, businessmen and various NGOs and represented government departments strongly objected to the planned mine, claiming massive job losses in farming and the growing tourism industry. Some threatened with litigation and criminal proceedings if Msobo proceeds with mining.
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