Mine Displaces Community

by Cindy Easterday, Companionship Facilitator

Displacements of people from lands which they have occupied has long been a part of South Africa’s history. In more recent years, under an apartheid government, people were forcibly removed from their homes and lands and consolidated in areas called “homelands”. With the formal end of that era and the new beginnings of democracy in 1994, laws began to take shape to protect people from any illegal removals from land to which they had a right to occupy.

Weak legal framework

Unfortunately these laws are often insufficient and ineffective, and their enforcement can be biased, weak and “toothless”. Finding ways to work around these laws by the more influential and powerful have become commonplace and, in the end, illegal displacements and removals continue at alarming rates while debates to “change the system” get bogged down in the quagmire of existing structures.

When I think of displacements and removals in today’s South Africa I mostly think of farms and farm workers -- including some farms acquired by game-park or golf course developers, often with foreign investors (including Americans), which result in workers being displaced. Or displacements could be the result of privatisation, frequently by multi-national companies, of, say, a tree farm, resulting in the retrenchment of its workers.

Jerry's story

One situation that I hadn’t thought of much in this way related to the development of mines . . . until I spoke with Jerry, one of the participant’s in the Global Organising workshop. He told me he was from the Sekhukhuneland district, one of the poorest areas in the Limpopo province. Subsistence farmers have lived here for generations, but in 2003 his family was one of 77 families (of a total of 84) who were forced off their land when Anglo Platinum threatened to bulldoze their homes and the graves of generations of their families if they didn’t leave.

Moved to a nearby township with small plots, they were forced to leave their livestock behind, which were soon stolen. Having lived on a family compound where each family had their own garden and kraal with cattle, goats and chickens, this was a completely different life which now separated them from each other and from their normal livelihood. Instead of improving their lives, this relocation had completely disrupted it, making them even more vulnerable to slipping into more extreme levels of poverty. And today, their source of water – the river nearby -- is being polluted upstream by refuse from this mine.

Local community ignored

Jerry claims that agreements between government and the mining company have been made yet the community has not been given these agreements or any of the required assessments or environmental reports done by the company as required by law. A committee formed to seek fair treatment have attempted to meet with the company representatives, letters have been written to the Premier’s office, and they have told their story to a newspaper – but there have been no responses and nothing has changed.

Visioning a decent life

“What do you want to see happen?” I asked. “We want a decent life with better houses (not substandard ones) and bigger yards. We want a trust established to develop our communities, to provide needed services and to educate our children.” A decent life. Doesn’t seem too much to ask for, does it?

As one of SMI’s member organisations, Nkuzi Development Association, continues to assist them in this process, our hope is that one day justice will be served and that “decent life” they so desire will become a reality.

The SMI workshop on Global Organizing for Peaceful Social Change, held on January 24-25, 2008 has helped me rediscover myself in the post apartheid South Africa. As a former anti-apartheid activist, the workshop has triggered a new sense of activism against injustice in a new country and a new set of challenges. Previously we had to fight against the injustices of apartheid but now we are faced with the challenges of injustice against the poor and landless.

The workshop has hit very hard on my conscience. It reminded me of the slogans that we used to shout during the fight against apartheid, "Aluta Continua", the struggle continues. To have gained political freedom is not enough, because people still have to be economically free, which includes access to land. In carrying on this struggle, the workshop has taught me that one has to have proper grounding and that grounding is faith. With faith one can move mountains, even if one's faith is as small as a mustard seed.

The workshop was beneficial and I hope that many more will be conducted in the future for the benefit of the struggle against injustice against the poor and landless.

New First Time Visitors from Cleveland to South Africa on JH “Mission”

by Ken Jones and Susanne Carter

The mission group SAMP has recruited 5 members from the Presbytery of the Western Reserve to constitute the next delegation “heading south” in our ongoing interactions with the Sisonke Masilwe Indlala network in South Africa. They include the following:

Liza Hendricks is a Presbyterian minister serving as General Presbyter for the Western Reserve. She is looking forward to this hand-on experience of the “missional church” in action.

Jenny Himmelman is a long time member of the SAMP coordinating team and an Elder at Forest Hill Church in Cleveland Heights. She is employed in the food industry, and is leaving husband Mark and daughter Caty at home in order to make this trip.

Edward Malone is a retired public housing official who chairs the Men’s Council at St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church in Beachwood, where he is also an Elder.

Vanessa Mullins has been a member at St. Mark’s Church since childhood. A graduate of Hampton University, a historic black university in Virginia, Vanessa also holds an MBA from Cleveland State. Presently she is the manager of a non-profit program providing vision screenings and eyeglasses to children living at or near poverty level.

Edna Swoope recently retired from a long career as a coordinator for the Cleveland Clinic. She is an Elder at Calvary Church in Cleveland, where she has been an active member for 40 years.

This group will join former Companionship Facilitators Susanne Carter and Ken Jones and leaders of Sisonke member organizations to view their varied involvements in land justice issues in different parts of the country as well as to enjoy some of the beauty of South Africa. Their visit will take place from March 31 to April 14, 2008.

SMI July Conference Delegates Selected

by Cindy Easterday, Companionship Facilitator

Though the Sisonke Network does not have an employed Coordinator as part of their structure at this point in time, two of their long term members were selected at a recent meeting to represent the Network at the July Joining Hands / Peacemaking Conference in Orange, California.

Current Convener Rev Christopher Saaiman visited the Cleveland area last year as part of the SMI delegation visit sponsored by the Western Reserve, and Rev Philemon Talane, who works with Nkuzi Development Association on land justice issues, will spend time with their partner presbytery once again following the conference.