PUBLIC PETITION: Stop the illegal strip-mining of the Vhembe for coal
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CALLING ON THE PUBLIC PROSECUTOR AND THE SA MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT TO ACT TO UPHOLD THE LAW
The strip-mining of the Vhembe Biosphere Reserve for coal has begun - illegally
MC Mining (formerly Coal of Africa) holds the majority of the rights to exploit the largely untouched coal resources of the Greater Soutpansberg Coalfield located in the Limpopo River Valley.
Its parent company, Chinese coal producer, Kinetic Resources, is also an anchor investor in the Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone, the China-South Africa state-backed industrial mega-project being developed in the coalfield.
In December 2024, MC Mining commenced mining activities on the site of the Makhado Colliery located adjacent to the MMSEZ South Site, despite the fact that environmental authorisation for the mine granted by the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources is currently under appeal.
In March 2024, these events were exposed in a documentary on the controversial MMSEZ that aired on current affairs programme, Carte Blanche
Living Limpopo, together with Dear South Africa and Amandla.mobi, has launched a public petition supported by BirdLife South Africa and WESSA, calling on the Public Prosecutor to prosecute MC Mining for unlawful commencement of mining activities, and upon Minister Dion George to uphold the appeal that is before him.
It is urgent that the strip-mining of the Vhembe be stopped before MC Mining reaches the coal deposits. The bulldozing of our Baobabs advances daily.
We need your voice. Sign Now.
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Descr16 March 2025
An Open Letter to:
The National Director of Public Prosecutions, Shamila Bathohi, Adv.
The Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Dion George
Subject: Urgent Call to Address Illegal Mining Activities at Makhado Colliery
Dear Adv. Bathohi and Honourable Minister George,
We, the undersigned members of the South African public, are deeply concerned about the unlawful mining activities initiated by MC Mining at the Makhado Colliery site located within Limpopo’s Vhembe Biosphere Reserve, a region of immense biodiversity and cultural significance. These operations have commenced despite an unresolved appeal against the environmental authorisation, pending since 2021, which constitutes a clear violation of Section 24F of the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA).
The implications of this mining operation extend far beyond legal infractions. The planned expansion of coal mining in the region is linked to the Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone (MMSEZ)—a project designed to support large-scale coal and steel production which threatens to cause severe environmental damage and deplete scarce water resources, undermines South Africa’s climate change commitments and disproportionately benefits foreign- and fossil fuel industry interests at the expense of local communities and industries. Kinetic Development, a Chinese coal producer that is the parent company of MC Mining, is also an anchor investor in the MMSEZ and intends to supply coal to its own ferrochrome smelter in the metallurgical zone.
We call upon you to take immediate action:
Cease all mining activities at the Makhado Colliery and ensure that MC Mining begins rehabilitation of the disturbed areas, given its heightened ecological sensitivity.
Prosecute MC Mining Limited, Baobab Mining and Exploration (Pty) Ltd and connected entities within the group, and their respective directors under Section 33(2)(c) of NEMA for their ongoing statutory violations.
Uphold the appeal lodged by Interested and Affected Parties against the 2021 amendment of environmental authorisation granted by the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources to MC Mining extending its validity, ensuring that due process is followed in affirming Section 24 of the Constitution.
The unlawful exploitation of our natural heritage by foreign interests for short-term profit undermines our constitutional rights and jeopardises future generations. We urge you to act decisively to uphold environmental justice and protect our shared resources.
Sincerely,
Lauren LiebenbergDirector
Living Limpopo NPC
This letter is co-signed by the members of the public listed in the appended list of co-signatories.
BACKGROUND
In 2025, in defiance of the global climate and nature crisis and all economic sense, South Africa begun exploiting a new coal resource in Limpopo for the benefit of foreign coal profiteers.
10 new open-cast coal mines will be developed in the untouched Greater Soutpansberg Coalfield located in the far northern Vhembe District of Limpopo Province to supply a mega industrial complex being developed on the edge of the coalpits:
The Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone, a 60 Km2 China-South Africa state-backed steel manufacturing industrial zone - the largest such industrial development in South Africa’s history - will drive the strip-mining of the Vhembe Biosphere Reserve for coal, laying waste to the visionary plan to create a landscape-scale conservation area in this wild but fragile region, along with its prospects for truly transformative growth.
The architects of the scheme to turn the Vhembe into another coal-fired hellscape in South Africa promise deliverance from joblessness for the impoverished Vhembe and proclaim themselves visionaries who will give rise to the coming century’s Witwatersrand, built not on gold, but on steel and coal. It is a lie. The economic fault lines upon which Makhado’s great arc and blast furnaces will be built run deep. A terrible price will be paid for any jobs it spawns and those jobs will not last. It is an environmental and economic disaster.
The future can still be changed.
Living Limpopo, a non-profit organisation and advocacy group, is a voice for the many who stand against the sacrifice of the wild heart of Limpopo, the plunder of the Limpopo River, and the betrayal of the real promise of the nature-based economy with a dirty, industrial-scale lie being peddled by our government.
Stand with us.
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