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Fikile Ntshangase, 63, was shot and killed in her home earlier this month.
- The SAHRC is concerned that no one has been arrested for the murder of an environmentalist in KZN.
- Environmental activist Fikile Ntshangase was killed in Ophondweni during a dispute over mining rights.
- Ntshangase was opposed to expanding mining operations and had rejected a relocation offer.
The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has called for the country’s security group to act to investigate allegations of threats to environmental activists who oppose a mine extension in part of KwaZulu-Natal.
The commission’s call comes after Fikile Ntshangase was shot dead on October 22 at her home in Ophondweni, near Mtubatuba.
She was the vice chair of a subcommittee of the Mfolozi Community Environmental Justice Organization (MCEJO) and was among a group of people who opposed an open mine on the border of the iMfolozi-Hluhluwe playground in North KwaZulu -Native.
He was part of a lobby group for the protection of the rights of communities to a clean and safe environment, and he opposed the expansion of the Somkhele mine.
She was shot dead while offering residents of the land owned by the Ingonyama Board of Trustees, on which the mine is built, a settlement to move in to make way for expansion.
Miningmx reported that the expansion areas are located far from the current operations of the Tendele company, whose closest pit is only 500 meters from the iMfolozi river, 4.7 kilometers from the confluence of the white iMfolozi and the black iMfolozi.
It reported that some activists said the compensation situation had “turned the community against itself.”
Jobs are also reportedly at stake if the mine closes.
The KwaZulu-Natal police are investigating Ntshangase’s murder, and Colonel Thembeka Mbhele said there were no arrests.
In a letter to the Daily Maverick, Tendele Mining stated that the mine is by far the largest source of economic development in the area and the company believes its survival and expansion are supported by many others.
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Jan du Preez, CEO of Tendele Mining, condemned the intimidation and violence and hoped that a resolution could be mediated.
The mine explained in the letter that the negotiation since June 2017 resulted in 128 households accepting its offers based on the valuations of the structures.
He said the minimum compensation is 400,000 rand per head of household, which includes housing and other considerations. The average compensation is 750,000 rand per head of household to move to land in the Mpukunyoni area.
The SAHRC said that Ntshangase had also filed an application in the Supreme Court of Appeals, challenging the legality of Tendele Coal Mining’s activities on a particular piece of land and the legality of its environmental authorization.
A second case relates to a request to annul Tendele’s mining rights on the grounds that the company allegedly failed to comply with the required public participation before the mining license was issued.
The SAHRC said that before she was killed, Ntshangase had refused to sign the relocation agreement, which some of her subcommittee members had allegedly signed on behalf of the MCEJO.
The SAHRC said it also intended to depose an affidavit, claiming a proposed payment of R350,000 in exchange for his signature.
The institution said:
The commission is extremely concerned that the exercise of fundamental human rights by activists and human rights defenders, especially in mining communities, has always put the lives of these activists at risk.
“The commission views Mam ‘Ntshangase’s murder as a threat to the creation and existence of a safe and conducive environment for defenders of social, territorial and environmental justice to freely exercise their rights,” the SAHRC said.
– Compiled by Jenni Evans
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