A Community Devastated by Mining Company

by Bridgette Hector, JH Companionship Facilitator

I will never forget the voice of the man from the Ga-Pila community in the Limpopo Province. In a somber, deep, raspy tone he whispered, “Oh, I thought you all had come to help us”. My heart dropped, immediately I was overwhelmed with sadness.

This particular night was dark and chilly. I was a part of the Sisonke Masilwe Indlala (SMI) and South Africa Mission Partnership (SAMP) delegation group, who had just spent the entire day visiting an orphanage home in Limpopo. The faces of those small children were still fresh on our minds. Even though it was getting dark we decided to go ahead and visit this community in Limpopo. It was very important to SMI’s Interim Coordinator, Phillemon Talane, that we were able to witness this community that had been relocated by a mining company.

The mining company needed the Ga-Pila community to uproot themselves from their homes. It needed the people's land in order to further excavate. So, residents say, the company promised the families new, larger homes on fertile land, where they could continue to thrive. But such a promise was never fulfilled. Instead of new larger homes, the people now live in small, ill constructed fixtures. In this relocation deal, the community members do not have fields to garden and raise their livestock. Yet the mining company achieved what it wanted. It destroyed this once beautiful community just to reap the profits from its mine.

Then he suddenly stopped talking. Maybe he felt he had shared enough. There was silence among the group. A few of us were able to engage with him. They each asked questions, perhaps seeking to make some sense of this matter. The devastation that had occurred to that community was apparent, though. The people have no lights, as “someone” had come to cut their power supply. They have no water, not even a river in the vicinity can be trusted as it had been deemed unfit to drink by officials in Limpopo. This is a clear case of land injustice!

As our group walked away, you could literally feel the sadness in our hearts. Maybe, as SMI continues to fight for this community through education and campaign building, maybe we will one day be those people “who have really come to help.”

Sisonke Masilwe Indlala (SMI)-Network Update

by Bridgette Hector, JH Companionship Facilitator

As I sat in SMI’s Core Team Strategic Planning meeting of August 3-7, I was truly amazed by the fervor and dedication of its members. Each a leader in his or her own community, they had taken time from their busy schedule to deliberate on issues of land justice. As conversations ensued one could feel the zeal of the leaders as they spoke of empowering the powerless. There was talk of how the big corporations are seen as power unto themselves, unanswerable to so many citizens of South Africa. Along with the discussions that named the injustices within South Africa, there were conversations that spoke of the possibility of hope and change within South Africa.

SMI examined a plethora of conflicts that are present in South Africa. It is through their intense assessment of these concerns that they agreed to use their capacity to help people who have been devastated by the powerful mining companies that are causing intense havoc upon many South African communities. Mining companies are allegedly forcing people off their land, by implementing unjust negotiations with strategic landowners and cutting out conversations with the average South African citizen.

SMI is now looking forward to a productive year of communicating with community members who have been forcefully removed from their homes by mining companies. It is the network's intention to record and verify the stories of devastation that these families have endured. SMI will use this information as a case study to inform strategic persons of these particular inequalities, so that justice can come forth. It is SMI’s hope that through education and advocacy people who have been dislocated by the mining companies will be able to receive their proper justice. SMI believes that any relocation agreements should provide for fair compensation for all social economic and environmental costs associated with the relocation of communities.

SMI is looking forward to powerful season of justice!

“What awesome things will God do with this experience in our lives?”

In July 2009, seven members of the Presbytery of the Western Reserve accepted an invitation from Sisonke Masilwe Indlala to come and see what the Spirit of God has been doing in South Africa.

We were students, teachers, and ministers. Our ages ranged from 17 to 66 years. We spent 16 days in South Africa, including five overnight stays in family homes organized by our Joining Hands partners.

We saw God at work in many different settings:

“Come and see what God has done; awesome are God’s deeds among mortals.” Psalm 66:5
Formerly dispossessed farmers are growing vegetables and tending chickens and goats on newly accessible land. The community’s move from abject poverty to self-sufficiency is a step toward God’s vision of justice for all.	The awesome sightings of animals in Kruger Park reminded us of the magnificence of God’s creation. As the youngest member of our group prayed during our devotional time, “O God, teach us humans to find our proper place in your creation”.
This young and vital congregation was eager to pose with our travel group after we shared a bi-lingual worship service. The presence of the Holy Spirit was most palpable in joint song and prayer and dance.
Young orphaned girls are dancing in the face of the devastation of their lives caused by AIDS. Volunteers from the village serve as their “carers” who provide meals, clothing, and other support, including dancing instruction. Monuments, such as the Steve Biko Memorial Garden, made us sense that we were often standing on holy ground. Through many faithful witnesses, God has done and is doing marvelous things in South Africa.

Now that we are back in Northeast Ohio, the question is, “What awesome things will God do with this experience in our lives?”