By: Sello Theletsane
The community of Middelburg and Hendrina has blasted the “self-serving” decision of the Richards Bay Coal Terminal Board to terminate Optimum Coal Mine’s rights and entitlement to use the Optimum Coal Terminal at the Richards Bay Coal Terminal.
Mpumalanga Action Movement spokesperson Clifford Masinga said: “This inhumane and mafia-style decision has taken no account of the cries and pleas of the community even after numerous engagements including memoranda submitted to the mayors of Nkangala district municipality and the Steve Tshwete
Local Municipality.”
Masinga added that “it is totally appalling that corporate collusion in this country has reached such levels of immorality wherein boards of state-owned companies take decisions that are totally opposed to the plight of the very people they exist to serve.”
Masinga explained that the Richards Bay Coal Terminal is a board that runs the port terminal at Richards Bay for exporting coal.
He said it is responsible for the allocation of trains that transport coal from the mine to Richards Bay, it is also responsible for the allocation of port terminals where it is then loaded onto ship for export.
“This means that the Optimum Mine cannot transport the coal that is currently being mined in the Open Pits and Mini-Pits that are currently helping to sustain the little jobs we have at the mine and keep the mine operational.”
“If the coal being mined at the mine cannot be transported and sold it means the mine will close down and the jobs will come to an end by end of December.”
Masinga said “it is no secret that there has been industrial scale collusion between the big mining companies and the RBCT board in order to strangle out Optimum from its allocation. This directly benefits Anglo, Seriti, and Glencore as they are presently shipping out more and more coal through the extra allocation they have begotten themselves as a result of their mafioso modus operandi.”
Masinga said in the past few weeks, “we have seen videos of thousands of trucks transporting coal to Richards Bay while this country suffers from continued bouts of loadshedding”.
“This collusion by the big mining companies is directly linked to the looting of our natural coal resources to power up Europe in order to mitigate its short supply of gas
as a result of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, at the expense of South Africans.”
“In making its decision, the RBCT board ignores and downright makes a joke out the pleas of the communities that are gravely affected by the looming closure of Optimum Mine as a result of their decision to cut out Optimum’s export capacity.”
Masinga said communities will not sit by “while our grievances and cries get ignored”. “Those who believe they can collude with the capitalist mining companies to subjugate the people of our country will find use in the streets,” concluded Masinga.
