The drinking water supply of more than 18 million South Africans is under threat from a proposed new coal mine on the northern bank of the Vaal River, near Vereeniging in Gauteng. The proposed mine is close to an important canal and pipeline system carrying raw supplies of water to Rand Water’s Zuikerbosch pumping station. According to the utility, it supplies about 70 percent of Gauteng’s drinking water. In addition it contributes to the potable water supply of North West, Free State, Mpumalanga and Limpopo.
In the larger context, the mine is a threat to the national economy as Gauteng contributes approximately two-thirds of South Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP).
The Panfontein Colliery, preparations for which have been carried out in virtual secrecy with inadequate public participation, is scheduled to make its first coal delivery to Eskom’s Lethabo power station in January 2015, according to the Final Scoping Report (FSR) released by environmental assessment practitioner TTH Invasion on 8 September 2014.
VaalWac’s objection to the colliery is that pollution of the Vaal River on a massive scale would be seemingly unavoidable, posing a threat not only to the drinking water of about one-third of South Africa’s population, but to agriculture and recreational uses such as fishing and water sports.
Planned operations include both open-cast and underground activity, some of which would take place within the 100-metre flood line. Further, blasting for the mining operation would be inevitable, with potential for damaging Rand Water’s canal and large pipeline which cross the proposed mine site.
“Without an adequate water supply, neither people, agriculture nor industry can function,” says VaalWac chairman Humphries Jooste. “We understand perfectly well that Lethabo needs coal, but the need for potable water, an increasingly scarce resource in South Africa, is even greater. We can live without electricity if we have to, but we cannot live without water.”
VaalWac notes that an article published earlier this year by Anja du Plessis, project leader of the Water Conservation and Management Focus Group in Unisa’s Geography Department, states that practically all South Africa’s freshwater resources, including those from rivers, man-made dams and groundwater sources, had already been fully allocated by 2005. “It has been predicted that South Africa will suffer serious water shortages in 2020,” she wrote.
The proposed colliery, which its backers state will likely be operational for 28 years — i.e. until well beyond the water shortage crisis point — is located on the farm Panfontein, on which there is a settled community at the village of Bantu Bonke, a school, an antelope- and horse-breeding farm, and a thriving hydroponics business employing local residents.
An estimated 3 800 hectares of farmland would be affected by mining. Importantly the report acknowledges that “it is unclear how many workers are currently employed in this area but the number is likely to be significant.”
According to the FSR, about 500 people would be employed during the construction phrase, falling to about 200 when the mine is in operation.
But, warns Samson Mokoena, co-ordinator of the Vaal Environmental Justice Alliance (VEJA), a non-governmental organisation with links to international NGOs opposed to the continued use of unsustainable fossil fuel, there would be few permanent jobs for the local community.
“We have seen over and over with coal-mine developments that specialists from outside are brought in, leaving very few job opportunities — typically no more than five percent — available to local people,” he says.
Little is known about the company promoting the mine, Richtrau 253 (Pty.) Ltd., other than that it is a subsidiary of Liketh Investments (Pty). Ltd. The FSR gives the contact person for Richtrau and Liketh as Pius Mokgokong, a major figure in black economic empowerment (BEE) mining.
Companies with which Mokgokong is, or has been, associated have been linked with serious environmental problems and/or issues resulting from mining activities. He was a director a Imbawula when that company purchased the Spitzkop and Tselentis collieries in Mpumalanga from Xstrata Coal. In July 2012, Imbawula’s Msobo coal division was named by then Minister of Water & Environmental Affairs Edna Molewa as one of four companies that had been issued “predirectives” in terms of the National Water Act, 1998, after the town of Carolina’s primary water source was found to have been polluted with acid mine water.
On 26 March 2013, a public meeting erupted in chaos when Msobo Coal, announced plans to mine inside Mpumalanga’s Chrissiesmeer Biodiversity Area. Brian Morris of the Mpumalanga Parks & Tourism Agency says the biodiversity in this area is irreplaceable, and that the agency cannot meet its conservation targets if the area becomes a mining site. Landowners in the area had already signed and committed to declaring the lake lands, which contain more than 270 pans, a protected area.
Mokgokong was also previously — and may still be — a director of Sebenza Mining, which in March 2001 was awarded a R180-million, three-year contract to manage and operate Anker’s mine at Golfview, near Ermelo, Mpumalanga. VaalWac has been unable to establish whether Sebenza was still involved with Golfview in October 2012, when the mine was hit with the largest criminal penalty imposed up to that time for environmental offences in South Africa. Golfview Mining was fined R4-million for illegally mining in a wetland, diversion of water resources, inadequate pollution control, and unauthorised transformation of three hectares of indigenous vegetation.
Conviction and sentence were imposed as part of a plea agreement in terms of which Golfview was required to pay R1-million each to the Mpumalanga Department of Economic Development, the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency, and the Water Research Council.
Prof. Johann Tempelhoff of North-Western University’s School of Basic Science at the Vaal Triangle Campus’s Faculty of Humanities, has made a detailed study of South Africa’s water resources. This latest threat to the water supply of millions is extremely grave, he says.
“A coal mine there would have a serious impact on Rand Water’s purification plant. The water purification processes are highly sensitive to dust, which is inevitable with an open-cast coal mining operation. Not only that, but acid mine drainage would pose a major problem to farmers along the river even beyond the Bloemhof Dam on the border of the Free State and North West Provinces.
“Almost 80 percent of the water in the entire Vaal River Barrage is already toxic, having been contaminated by acid mine drainage, other industrial pollutants and untreated sewage. It is vital importance that no more harm is caused. Instead, work should be done to reverse the damage already done.”
The environment assessment practitioner states in the FSR that “negative impacts on the Vaal River water quality are expected to be high to moderate” and that there is “potential of acid mine drainage generation from prolonged exposure of acid-generating carbonaceous material to air and water during stockpiling of excavated material…”
Further, TTH Invasion says the geochemical characteristics of the material “could have disastrous impacts on the regional aquifer”, and that boreholes in the area “are at risk”.
Rand Water legal adviser Mmule Raditsela advised TTH Invasion in writing on 11 February 2014 that it intended objecting to the proposed mining application “as it will affect the operations of Rand Water at Panfontein”.
Mariette Lefferink, CEO of the Federation for a Sustainable Environment (FSE), warns that it is essential to prevent a repeat of the acid mine drainage crisis that has compromised underground water in the Witwatersrand.
“Treatment to neutralise the acid content of this water has begun, but does not solve the problem of the high level of salinity that makes
the treated water unsuitable for either domestic use or agriculture,” she says.
VaalWac cites the case of the Olifants River catchment area in Mpumalanga, one of South Africa’s most degraded river systems. This degradation has been caused primarily by coal mining. Acid mine water discharged into the river contributes an estimated 78% to the total sulphate load. Such pollution levels affect farmers, people living in the catchment area and even tourists and wildlife in the Kruger National Park.
A key issue, says VaalWac, is that correct public participation procedures appear not be have been followed.
Neither of the local municipalities, Midvaal and Emfuleni, were properly advised of the proposed mine, says Daleen Venter, ward councillor for Three Rivers, Vereeniging.
Those residents of the area, which is approximately 10 km from the mine site, who do know about the proposal are concerned that their already overloaded infrastructure will be affected by the mine’s activities, she says.
In addition, local farmers operating close to the mine site stated at a public meeting in Three Rivers on 18 August 2014 that they had not been informed of the proposal to mine coal there.
Engineering and environmental consultant Anthony Hearn believes the environmental assessment process underpinning the application made to the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) for a licence to mine the site is flawed, and that the entire environmental assessment process seems to have been undertaken haphazardly.
“Confirmation has been obtained from the environmental assessment practitioner that the Environment Impact Assessment/Management Plan (EIA/EMP) was submitted to the DMR even though scoping had not been completed. Further, the public participation process cannot legally take place without reference numbers applicable to the environmental assessment of the project being supplied. This was not done.
“I question whether the environmental assessment practitioner, TTH Invasion (Pty.) Ltd., has any idea of the correct process — procedural, legal and substantive — that has to be followed, or even whether it is actually an independent organisation as required by the relevant legislation. At the very least, the whole process needs to be restarted.”
While the quality of drinking water is the key issue with the proposed mine, says VaalWac, it is not the only problem. Community health and social issues are serious concerns. Coal mining results in severe air pollution which would put at risk the health residents of Bantu Bonke village, which comprises some 200 formal houses and numerous shacks, and also of the nearly 500 learners at the Panfontein School who are drawn from a large surrounding area. There is no alternative school within easy travelling distance.
Other significant impacts identified include heritage and loss of vegetation. The area is located within the grassland biome, one of the most threatened in South Africa. The presence of wetlands and untransformed grasslands has led to estimates of between 11 and 40 percent probability of the occurrence there of Red Data species — i.e. those that are ecologically threatened.
The FSR states that “… as the demand for coal is still increasing, mining development in the Panfontein area is inevitable.”
VaalWac contests this, pointing out that the estimated coal reserves at Panfontein are about 300-million tonnes — less than half of one percent of South Africa’s total coal reserves, which were estimated by the 2009-2011 Council for Geosciences study to be 66,7 billion tonnes. Further, the reserves at Panfontein are of low grade, having a calorific value of 14 to 16, according to the FSR. Lethabo’s coal requirements can easily be met by establishing mines in less environmentally vulnerable areas.
The Coalition also contends that both right and the law are on their side. Section 24 of the Bill of Rights in South Africa’s Constitution states: “Everyone has the right to a protected environment that is not harmful to their health or well-being.” In addition, the Minerals & Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA) states than an applicant may be granted a mining right only if mining does not result in unacceptable pollution, ecological degradation or damage to the environment.
“The whole idea is nothing short of insane,” says VaalWac chairman Jooste. “Yes, Lethabo needs coal, but not this coal. We call on all interested and affected parties — who in this case number at least 18 million people — to get involved. Contact your local councillors and members of Parliament, and demand that they put a stop to this nonsense before more harm is done.
“The Zuikerbosch pumping station is a vital public facility. It needs to be declared a National Key Point and accorded all necessary protection. Remember, water is life. Without it we cannot survive.”
Issued by the Vaal Water Action Coalition (VaalWac)
CONTACT INFORMATION
The Vaal Water Action Coalition (VaalWac) is a group of concerned citizens and organizations formed to raise public awareness of, and make objections to, the proposed mine at Panfontein, Gauteng, on the basis that it constitutes a potentially catastrophic pollution threat to the community.
Matthew White, designated spokesperson, VaalWac
cell 082 457 1544; email: [email protected]
Dr. Daniel Limpitlaw, technical adviser, Limpitlaw Consulting
cell: 083 326 3590; email: [email protected]
Humphries Jooste, chairman, Vaal Water Action Coalition (VaalWac)
email: [email protected]
Samson Mokoena, co-ordinator, Vaal Environmental Justice Alliance (VEJA)
email: [email protected]
Mariette Lefferink, CEO, Federation for a Sustainable Environment (FSE)
email: [email protected]
Prof. Johann Tempelhoff, Faculty of Humanities, North-West University
email: [email protected]
Tony Hearn, consultant
email: [email protected]
Daleen Venter, ward councillor, Three Rivers, Vereeniging
email: [email protected]
Facebook page at www.facebook.com/vaalwac
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