South Africa: Why Communities Have Gone to Court Over the Mining Charter

2 November 2017

The mining industry has a very particular history in South Africa. It has exploited people for their labour, stripped them of their land, caused environmental harm, and left communities with a range of social problems. It has been built on a system of inequality and exclusion which continues to this day. It is about time this changed.

Its legacy is nowhere more obvious than in communities affected by mining. These communities continue in appalling conditions of poverty and face the costs of mining every day. They have lost farm land to mining operations and suffer the health consequences of polluted water, air and soil. They cannot choose where to live and they have no say in where mining should take place. Although they bear the greatest burden of mining, they share in almost none of the benefits.

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