Communities affected by platinum mining find themselves caught up in the contradictions and tensions generated by unaccountable traditional leaders, the failure of the state to respond to pleas for intervention and cavalier attitudes by mining companies. Proceeds that should be going towards the development of communities whose land is being mined are being mismanaged. Legislative mechanisms to partially democratise traditional leadership and create accountability have largely failed. Courts of law have repeatedly punished rural citizens trying to get traditional leaders to account to their communities in the North West. To whom do mining-affected communities turn?
The Institute for Security Studies, the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the Centre for Law and Society at the University of Cape Town invite you to a seminar to mark the launch
of a special issue of the South African Crime Quarterly on unaccountability, corruption, impunity and violence in mining-affected communities in the North West province.
Chair: Dr Mbongiseni Buthelezi, University of Cape Town
Speakers: Mr David Pheto, member of the Bakgatla-ba-Kgafela community
Ms Wilmien Wicomb, Attorney, Constitutional Litigation Unit Legal, Legal Resources Centre
Dr Sonwabile Mnwana, Researcher in the Mining and Rural Transformation in Southern Africa (MARTISA) project, Society Work and Development Institute (SWOP), University of the Witwatersrand
Details: 6 November 2014
10h30 for 11h00
Nelson Mandela Foundation, 107 Central Street, Houghton
(Secure parking along Central Street)
RSVP: Diketso Mufamadi | diketsom@nelsonmandela.org | 011 5475600