Tebogo Msimanga |
Mining Affected Communities United in Action (MACUA) and Women Affected by Mining United in Action (WAMUA) is calling on President Cyril Ramaphosa to “reverse his embrace of big business and to ensure that mining communities are ensured the rights set out in our constitution.”
President Cyril Ramaphosa will deliver a State of The Nation Adress( SONA) today.
MACAU and WAMUA said Ramamphosa will once again stand before the nation, making big promises which will inevitably benefit the minority politically connected politicians and businesses.
MACAU National Coordinator Meshack Mbangula said a case in point is when the President promised during his SONA speech in 2018 that he would be more open and inclusive.
“The SONA speech was delivered a few days after we had won a victory in the Pretoria North High Court in February 2018. The court had ordered that mining-affected communities must be consulted as interested and affected stakeholders in the development of the Mining Charter.”
Mbangula added that Ramaphosa in response, promised during his SONA address that they will intensify engagements with all stakeholders on the Mining Charter to ensure that it is truly an effective instrument to sustainably transform the face of mining in South Africa.
WAMAU National Convenor, Nester Ndebela said this promise, like many others “he has so easily made, has proven to be merely hot air designed simply to bamboozle and fool the media and the public”.
“Everything that Ramaphosa’s government has done thus far has been based on the same blueprint which has led to deep inequality and systemic poverty. Even in the face of the pandemic, Cyril Ramaphosa’s government has continued to turn a blind eye to the abuses suffered by mining communities while handing out mining licences as if they were sweets.” Said Ndebele.
WAMAU and MACAU are once again urging the President to “live up to the high ideals of our constitution and to ensure that our concerns are treated with the same urgency and preference that they appear to give to their comrades and pals in big business.”
