Tendele was granted the Mining Rights (MR) in October 2016. The MR was contested and on 4 May 2022 the Pretoria High Court handed down a judgment relating to the Area 4 & 5 MR and its associated Environmental Management Programme (EMPr) held by Tendele (Court Case No: 82865/2018). The decisions to grant the MR and approve the EMPr were declared invalid by the Judge. [1] The MR and its EMPr were not, however, set aside by the Court but the appeal proceedings before the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) have been reopened and the abuse and bullying has continued. Fear of reprisals, intimidations and assassinations are part of the Zululand communities daily lives, your punishment if you say no to the coal-onisers. Just recently, an Activist, Mama Fikele, who stood up against Tendele Somkhele coal mine was assassinated. [2] Tendele Somkhele are now on their 3rd Environmental Assessment Practitioner (EAP) in as many years, and each time a new EAP is assigned to push the Tendele Somkhele destruction. The consultations are flawed and EIA critically flawed. Disturbing facts have come to light, no sooner had Tendele Somkhele’s consultants put out their flawed I&AP, even although the consulting period is not halfway through, Tendele Somkhele is bulldozing it’s way through community lands, forcibly removing households or leaving them to watch their neighbour’s lands being bulldozed. Traumatizing and bullying communities yet again. [3] Very little rehabilitation has taken place in past open cast mining areas as required by the Department of Agriculture, mined areas to be returned to arable land. Instead, in the wake of the Tendele Coal-onisers, all that has been left is vast spaces of destruction.  The destruction left behind by Tendele’s previous mining has created amongst the environmental destruction and health impact, additional fire risks. South Africa is a water scarce country, where will Tendele get their water from as coal needs thousands of litres of water to wash their coal? Does the community, their livestock and our wildlife once again need to fight for access to water or is Tendele given priority, Profit before people? The UN has recognised water as a fundamental Human Right. [4] Clean Air is also a basic human Right, it is a well researched fact that wind can carry particles of coal dust for up to 40 KM, contaminating and affecting human and environmental ecosystems. Stockpiled or left over coal undergoes atmospheric oxidation and desorption processes during open air storage, these processes release gases into the atmosphere, to once again, negatively impact human and environmental ecosystems. Every few years, the Zululand communities and their homesteads are needing to play hopscotch with the Coal-onisers as they’re forcibly removed from one area to another because new destructive coal mining is needed. Each new coal mining application brings with it empty promises of job creation, what happens to the workers from their previous mine, were their contracts terminated and they’re now left unemployed or have they left due to bad health caused by coal mining, or worse, have they passed on, also due to the impact of coal mining? [5] What do we want! Tendele Somkhele’s latest onslaught and bullying on the Zulu Kingdom needs to come to an end, South Africa has signed the Paris Agreement and needs to adhere to the Presidential Climate Commission, we don’t need more coal, we need a just transition to renewable energy!  End coal by coal-onisers before it ends us!! PeoplePower!!! Source: [1] Supreme Court Ruling 2023 [2] Condemnation of the assassination of Mama Fikile [3] Coal company sends bulldozers into KZN village [4] UN Water is a Human Right [5] 5000 applications for 100 jobs at Somkhele coal mine Photo credit Tsepang Molefe for groundWork

Brick-making company; Corobrik is currently threatening the sustainability and safety of this Pretoria paradise by submitting their application for the mining of coal in the area. Corobrik are opportunists, jumping on the coal mining bandwagon since the demand for clay bricks is dwindling in favour of Cement bricks. The mining of coal in the Rietvlei Area will have a disastrous impact on the environment and can cause irreparable damage. Coal mining, being a fossil fuel, has been proven to elevate carbon dioxide emissions thus fueling climate change causing “Extreme weather events in the form of drought, floods and wildfires that increasingly pose a risk to the health, well-being and safety of people.” (- President Cyril Ramaphosa, SoNA, 9 February 2023, Cape Town City Hall.) Apart from the global impact of Climate change, coal mining also causes air, water, and soil pollution caused by the release of Sulphur dioxide in the air, acidifying the water and releasing heavy metals into the soil. The effects of coal mining pollution are clear in arid landscapes which once were lush and green with natural life and especially experienced daily by local communities through increased noise levels, respiratory health issues caused by black dust, and even the cracking and damaging of buildings. As human beings it is our responsibility to protect animals. This harmonious relationship will most certainly be threatened with an increased risk of Poaching. In the past, Rietvlei had 4 lions of which all 4 were poached and killed. Poaching will become a bigger risk to the Reserve as the lack of employment opportunities at the mine can resort to criminal activities to sustain communities. While the north is moving away from coal, Corobrik is racing towards coal mining. We must stand together to protect Rietvlei Nature Reserve, keeping the wildlife and eco system thereof safe and say NO to Corobrik and their coal mining!