AccessToJustice

Building, teaching and practicing modes of solving problems that do not rely on criminal Justice, civil Justice or state violence. Peace and Access to Justice

[Zwelinzima Vavi @Zwelinzima1]

There are 6100 mines that have been abandoned by multinationals after making trillions out of them:
The closure of mines in South Africa is governed by several key pieces of legislation designed to ensure environmental rehabilitation, safety, and sustainability. These laws mandate that mining operations restore land to acceptable conditions and prevent hazards once mining activities cease. Here are the primary laws and regulations:

1. Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA), 2002
•Purpose: Regulates the granting of mining rights and the responsibilities of mining companies.
•Key Provisions:
•Section 43: Requires mining companies to obtain a closure certificate after completing rehabilitation.
•Section 37: Enforces sustainable development and environmental management practices.
•Mining right holders must submit an Environmental Management Program (EMP) and ensure compliance throughout the mining lifecycle.

2. National Environmental Management Act (NEMA), 1998
•Purpose: Provides overarching environmental legislation, including managing environmental impacts of mining.
•Key Provisions:
•Environmental Authorizations: Mining activities require an environmental authorization before commencing.
•Rehabilitation: Mining companies must rehabilitate mined land according to approved plans.
•Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA): Requires EIAs to assess potential environmental damage.

3. Mine Health and Safety Act (MHSA), 1996
•Purpose: Focuses on the health and safety of mineworkers and the surrounding community.
•Key Provisions:
•Mines must be left in a condition that does not endanger lives or pose safety risks after closure.
•Inspections are conducted to verify the safety of closed sites.

4. National Water Act, 1998
•Purpose: Governs the use and protection of water resources, including water pollution from mines.
•Key Provisions:
•Mining operations must prevent water contamination during and after operations.
•Closure plans must address potential acid mine drainage and other water-related impacts.

5. Financial Provision Regulations (as per NEMA)
•Purpose: Ensures mining companies allocate sufficient funds for rehabilitation.
•Key Provisions:
•Mining companies must set aside financial provisions for closure and rehabilitation.
•Funds must cover long-term environmental liabilities, even after mine closure.

6. National Environmental Management: Waste Act, 2008
•Purpose: Regulates waste management related to mining activities.
•Key Provisions:
•Mining companies must manage and dispose of waste safely.
•Rehabilitation plans must include measures for waste containment and disposal.

7. Environmental Conservation Act, 1989
•Purpose: Governs environmental impact control measures, particularly for older mining sites.
•Key Provisions:
•Rehabilitation measures must prevent long-term damage to ecosystems.

8. Regional Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act, 2013 (SPLUMA)
•Purpose: Provides guidelines for land-use planning after mine closure.
•Key Provisions:
•Requires alignment of post-mining land use with regional development plans.
•Ensures land is rehabilitated for potential future use.

Enforcement Challenges:
•Despite these laws, enforcement is often weak due to limited resources, corruption, and inadequate oversight.
•Financial provisions are sometimes insufficient, leaving the government to bear the costs of rehabilitation for abandoned mines.

These laws collectively aim to ensure that mines are closed responsibly, prioritizing environmental integrity, community safety, and sustainable development.

We are where we are because the government has dismally failed to enforce the laws including immigration laws

[AccessToJustice @sheena_ostjon]

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[AccessToJustice @sheena_ostjon]

Sunday sessions: dark night of the senses: a way to understand (and move through suffering). Making sense of how hard things are on planet earth right now.

When: 6pm Sunday 11 June
Where: zoom
RSVP: [email protected]
Cost: None

[AccessToJustice @sheena_ostjon]

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[AccessToJustice @sheena_ostjon]

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[AccessToJustice @sheena_ostjon]

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[AccessToJustice @sheena_ostjon]

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[AccessToJustice @sheena_ostjon]

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[AccessToJustice @sheena_ostjon]

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[AccessToJustice @sheena_ostjon]

introducing our new course in Human Rights 🥰 we are so excited to see you there!

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[AccessToJustice @sheena_ostjon]

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[AccessToJustice @sheena_ostjon]

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[Panyaza Lesufi @Lesufi]

We are looking for 6000 young unemployed youth based in GAUTENG to be trained as installers of solar panels. They will earn a monthly stipend during training. Skill the youth to fight loadshedding #GrowingGPtogether. Less talk more work!

[Dali Mpofu @AdvDali_Mpofu]

Those who believe the BS false propaganda of “free market” fundamentalists that the privatisation of public services for profit maximisation is the answer to inefficiency & corruption have hopefully learnt something from the recent events & shenanigans at the Mangaung Prison!! 👀

[AccessToJustice @sheena_ostjon]

@jsteenhuisen From calling women road kill to completely excluding them from your lexicon, you must be the worst possible option that South Africa has.

[AccessToJustice @sheena_ostjon]

@kimheller3 @AdvDali_Mpofu Yes, aside from being unlawful, it’s cruel and inhumane.

[AccessToJustice @sheena_ostjon]

Let’s celebrate the surfacing of this tension and the necessary conversations that go with it.
As Adrieene Maree Brown writes in Emergent Strategy:

[AccessToJustice @sheena_ostjon]

The Tyranny of Civility

Some years ago, a student was celebrated across our media for clearing up rubbish bins that had been upturned by outsourced workers protesting to be insourced (in other words to be part of an employment relationship that honoured basic human dignity).

[AccessToJustice @sheena_ostjon]

I explained this esteeming of the ‘genteel’ and ‘civil’ over actual justice as ‘drinking tea while Rome burns’ to my kids.

My first-born got this tattoed on her arm in the place I was hoping she would get ‘Mom’ tattooed.

[AccessToJustice @sheena_ostjon]

Today’s shutdown will disturb our ‘peace’ but we may learn that it is really disturbing our complacency, to use Haga’s term. Let’s not double down on our complacency by celebrating the violence of the state and its policing and military capacity.

[AccessToJustice @sheena_ostjon]

Politicians should be peacemakers, skilled mediators. We, the people, get to take back this space from the rivalling gang turf wars that party politics have become. To do so requires that we bring our awareness to how our own thoughts, words and deeds affect the whole thing.

[AccessToJustice @sheena_ostjon]

Today a healing portal opens up and it matters what we do with our thoughts, words and deeds as the conflict surfaces for us to grapple with.
It’s time for us to reclaim the political space as a space for problem-solving and conflict resolution.