The Centre for Environmental Rights (CER) has refused to take down its statement and response to the Mpumalanga provincial government’s decision to exclude certain farms from a protected area to pave the way for a coal mine.
The CER expressed its displeasure on its website after former Mpumalanga agriculture and environmental affairs MEC, Vusi Shongwe, announced two weeks ago that he had excluded 27.503ha of land from the Mabola Protected Area in Wakkerstroom where an Indian company, Atha Africa Ventures, planned to open the Yzermyn Coal Mine.
A coalition of eight environmental organisation, which the CER represents, had put up a strong fight to stop the mining project because the Mabola Protected Area is a fresh water source within the Enkangala-Drakensberg Water Source Area (WSA). It is part of only 22 WSAs in South Africa which produce 50% of the country’s fresh water.