CALL FOR A FAIR HEARING ON LAND USE RIGHTS FOR MMSEZ TOWNSHIP
MMSEZ Coal Mega-Project Still Lacks Land Rights as Premier Repeats Last Year’s Promise to Hold a Hearing
Limpopo Premier Ramathuba recycles last year’s empty promises to hold the required objection hearing to the granting of land-use change rights for the MMSEZ’s coal-fired steel goliath in the Vhembe Biosphere Reserve.
Limpopo Legislature, Polokwane, 5 March 2026, Premier Phophi Ramathuba assured the province that her government has finally broken through the “bottlenecks” holding back the Musina‑Makhado Special Economic Zone.
Speaking in the State of the Province Address, she declared:
Limpopo Industrialisation Agenda: Turning resources into factories, and factories into jobs.
“Honourable Speaker, last year we directed the MEC for LEDET to ensure that the bottlenecks that held back one of our catalytic projects, Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone, are removed so that tangible progress is registered. We are delighted to report that indeed we have made great strides.”
Really?
Because from where we are standing, nobody heard the corks popping.
⏪Let’s rewind one year
In the 2025 State of the Province Address, the Premier announced:
SOPA 2025, 27 February 2025: “Honourable Speaker, there was a thorny issue on the South site requiring approval of township establishment. We are happy to report that the Makhado Municipality Tribunal will sit tomorrow, the 28th of February 2025, to finalise this matter. This approval will lead to the rezoning of the land and then hand over the site to the Operator.”
⏩ Fast-forward to 2026
One year later - and still no fair hearing on the decision to grant or deny land rights that will transform pristine indigenous bushveld in the Vhembe Biosphere Reserve into a vast industrial wasteland - the Premier, in her State of the Province 2026 Address, announced:
SOPA 2026, 5 March 2026: “Township establishment for the South Site will reach public notice in the second week of March 2026, followed by statutory objection and tribunal processes to ensure lawful accelerated implementation.”
Same script.Same lines.
Just another recycled promise — with the same insinuation that the hearing is merely a formality anyway, and that approval is inevitable.
So who is really to blame for “obstruction”?
The May 2025 MMSEZ SOC Report Claims re land-use rights and Objection
The Premier and MMSEZ leadership frequently blame “strong opposition” as the obstacle to the SEZ. But their own internal reporting reveals a rather different story.
In May 2025, the Chair of the Musina‑Makhado Special Economic Zone SOC Ltd submitted a report to the portfolio committee of the Limpopo Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism, following an oversight visit explaining the lack of progress on the MMSEZ.
The Chair’s ‘Excuses Report’ for the failing industrial mega-project identifies the lack of land-use rights as a “major impediment” to progress, and points to “fierce opposition” as the “challenge” to securing these rights.
Why?
Because, the report notes:
“All interested and affected parties are invited to the Municipal Planning Tribunal hearing and, in this instance, have already indicated that they will be attending the MPT hearings.”
And:
“The application must therefore be tight and fully compliant to be able to withstand criticism and critique from those opposed to the development.”
👀 Read that again.
The problem is not a weak and indefensible application.
The problem is not years of administrative paralysis.
The problem — apparently — is that communities and civil society will show up, exercise their rights, and ask difficult questions that — apparently — would be difficult to answer, still.
Democracy is not an inconvenience
Public participation is not an “impediment” to development.
It is a constitutional right.
Communities have every right to challenge a decision that would convert an entire 3 million-hectare landscape into a vast coal-fuelled mining and heavy industry Sacrifice Zone for foreign profit, with devastating implications for sustainable development, climate, biodiversity, water security, farming, tourism, local livelihoods and human health.
Yet, Living Limpopo, All Rise Attorneys for Climate and Environmental Justice, and other civil society organisations’ repeated requests to see the application documents and for proper notice of the Municipal Planning Tribunal Objection Hearing have been consistently ignored since July 2024.
The State of the Province 2026 “Breakthrough”
Premier Ramathuba has promised that the evasion tactics will cease and that the process will finally move forward. On the 5th of March 2025, she assured the province that “township establishment for the South Site will reach public notice in the second week of March 2026, followed by statutory objection and tribunal processes to ensure lawful accelerated implementation”
Good.
We are checking our inbox every day for:
📩 Proper notice of the Tribunal hearing
📄 The application documents we’ve requested since July 2024
👥 Real access for communities to attend and participate, as we’ve requested since July 2024
Because if the MMSEZ landuse rights application is as strong and defensible as its state-backers claim, it should have nothing to fear from a transparent public hearing.
And if it cannot withstand public scrutiny and interrogation, the public deserves to know that too.
⚖️ Our message to the Premier
Premier, We are weary of false promises and deliberate delay. We have a “challenge” of our own for you:
Open the files.
Let the public see the evidence.
Hold a fair hearing.
Join Living Limpopo and be counted among those we represent in defending the future of one of South Africa’s most vital mega-living landscapes
Additional Notes and References:
👉 Access a detailed chronology of events, key documents and a record of submissions by All Rise on behalf of Living Limpopo and others connected to the MMSEZ Township Establishment, Land Use Change and Rezoning Application here
👉 SOPA 2025 and 2026
STATE OF THE PROVINCE ADDRESS BY THE PREMIER OF LIMPOPO, DR PHOPHI RAMATHUBA, Limpopo Legislature, 05 March 2026 Accessible here
Quote:
Limpopo Industrialisation Agenda: Turning resources into factories, and factories into jobs.
Honourable Speaker, last year we directed the MEC for LEDET to ensure that the bottlenecks that held back one of our catalytic projects, Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone, are removed so that tangible progress is registered. We are delighted to report that indeed we have made great strides.
Township establishment for the South Site will reach public notice in the second week of March 2026, followed by statutory objection and tribunal processes to ensure lawful accelerated implementation.
STATE OF THE PROVINCE ADDRESS BY THE PREMIER OF LIMPOPO, DR PHOPHI RAMATHUBA, Limpopo Legislature, 27 February 2025 Accessible here:
Quote:
The land on the North site has finally been released by all the relevant national departments and the Musina Municipality Council would sit on 28th February 2025 to finalise the rezoning of the land for use by the MMSEZ. His Worship Vho Meyara Vho-Mawela, Manana Xipikara Shirilele, na Vho-Chief Whip Vho-Mafela, this is a task you should execute with ease.
Honourable Speaker, there was a thorny issue on the South site requiring approval of township establishment. We are happy to report that the Makhado Municipality Tribunal will sit tomorrow the 28th of February 2025, to finalise this matter. This approval will lead to the rezoning of the land and then hand over the site to the Operator.
Having had these matters attended to, we shall now direct the MEC for Provincial Treasury to release funds that we withheld earlier for reprioritisation. This will then allow MMSEZ to resume with its operations. Our next task will be to monitor and put our South Site Operator on terms to see the project taking shape in the 2025/26 Financial Year.
👉 Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone SOC. 2025. Report on the development status of the Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone, Report to the LEDET Portfolio Committee following oversight visit, 28 May 2025. Polokwane: MMSEZ SOC. See Democratic Alliance Press Statement 26 June 2025: DA demands forensic investigation into Musina-Makhado Special Economic ZoneIssued by Jacques Smalle, MPL – DA Limpopo Provincial Spokesperson on Economic Development, Environment, and Tourism; 26 June 2025
👉 Source of reference to pollution-dumping by Chinese investors in the MMSEZ and exploitation of the coal resources in the surrounding coalfield:
Kinetic Development Group Limited and MCC BERIS Engineering and Research Corporation, 2024. South Africa 2×33 000 kVA High Carbon Ferrochrome Project: Pre‑Feasibility Study Report (Appendix 7: Feasibility Study of Ferrochrome Smelting Project in South Africa).
Quote:
Section 1.3 Significance and advantages of the project construction:
4) Develop the advantages of China-Africa production capacity cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative.
5) Transfer China's excess steel capacity and reduce China's high energy-consuming pollution.
Note: Chinese coal producer, Kinetic Development Group, is the anchor investor in the MMSEZ. Kinetic has applied for environmental authorisation, atmospheric emissions licenses and water use licenses for the proposed ferrochrome smelter, coking plant, power plant and other projects in the MMSEZ Energy Metallurgical Zone. The feasibility study referenced above forms part of the Scoping Report and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) draft report for the ferrochrome smelter project. Despite the feasibility study for the ferrochrome smelter supporting an application to the South African government authorities for environmental authorisation, it presents a socio-economic calculus skewed in favour of Chinese interests. The ‘advantages’ for China identified in the feasibility study, conducted by a Chinese engineering firm, include the transfer of China's surplus steel production capacity, and the reduction of China's “high energy-consuming [primary industry] pollution” to South Africa. Smelting is an extremely energy-intensive, noxious industry.
See Living Limpopo blog post of 20 August 2025 and joint press release of 05 September 2025 with Comments on the Draft EIA Report for the proposed ferrochrome smelter project submitted by All Rise Attorneys for Environmental and Climate Justice on behalf of Living Limpopo and others, and press coverage here.