{"id":4340,"date":"2015-12-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-12-14T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amabhungane.org\/amabhungane\/stories\/state-accused-of-letting-tormin-damage-west-coast\/"},"modified":"2024-09-24T12:46:07","modified_gmt":"2024-09-24T12:46:07","slug":"state-accused-of-letting-tormin-damage-west-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/state-accused-of-letting-tormin-damage-west-coast\/","title":{"rendered":"State accused of letting Tormin damage West Coast"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Activists have accused government officials of turning a blind eye to a pattern of&nbsp;environmental violations at the Tormin dune mine on the West Coast \u2013 including a&nbsp;\u201ccatastrophic\u201d cliff collapse \u2013 after state departments failed to act on a string of letters,&nbsp;objections and a formal appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">MSR Tormin, 40km from Vredendal, is owned by Mineral Commodities, an Australian&nbsp;company that is also at the centre of the long-running battle over proposed dune mining&nbsp;on a far larger scale at Xolobeni on the Eastern Cape\u2019s Wild Coast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Among other breaches, Tormin is accused of expanding the mine without authorisation&nbsp;under the National Environmental Management Act; mining garnet in violation of the&nbsp;environmental management plan; mining in conservation areas; using unauthorised roads&nbsp;to transport products; and pumping raw sewage into the sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is also accused of causing the collapse of the beachfront cliff below its processing plant&nbsp;through inefficient control of the plant and operating too close to the cliff in breach of&nbsp;approval conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe plant stands within 100 metres of the cliff,\u201d said Dinah Louw, an environmentalist &nbsp;familiar with the area. \u201cExcess water is not controlled and there is constant run-off into&nbsp;the environment, killing vegetation and causing erosion and seepage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis destabilised the cliff face and caused the collapse, which because the company is&nbsp;doing nothing is spreading. The sensitive dune and cliff biodiversity are lost and the cliff&nbsp;face can\u2019t easily be rehabilitated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Louw said the collapse \u201cis visible to any government official visiting the site but has&nbsp;never been addressed in any communications with the community or the company\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe company keeps on saying it\u2019s a natural collapse for this area. But this is the only&nbsp;part of the coastline where it has happened.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">DMR officials allegedly met the National Union of Mineworkers in nearby Vredendal as&nbsp;recently as last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tormin chose not to comment in detail. A public relations consultant engaged by the&nbsp;company, asking not to be named, maintained that \u201cthe mine is fully permitted and there&nbsp;have been no breaches of any regulations\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The DMR was sent emailed questions on two occasions and phoned repeatedly for&nbsp;comment, but had not responded by the time of printing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AmaBhungane reported in early November on the labour turmoil at the Vredendal mine&nbsp;on the arid coast 400km north of Cape Town. Ten Tormin workers are facing public&nbsp;violence charges in connection with a five-week wage strike (See &#8220;Dismay as cops&nbsp;withdraw cases against Tormin managers&#8221; below).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Louw said that she submitted objections and wrote letters to the DMR between January&nbsp;and August this year \u2013 without result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI submitted an objection to the company\u2019s request for an amendment to the&nbsp;environmental management plan in January 2015, then I circulated letters to the national&nbsp;and Western Cape DMR and the national and Western Cape environmental affairs&nbsp;departments, among others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe letters highlighted the serious environmental and social transgressions taking place&nbsp;on the Tormin site and in the Lutzville area.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Louw said only the provincial mineral resources department replied, saying their hands&nbsp;are tied as mining operations fall under the national DMR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She also complained that in July this year she appealed against the DMR\u2019s rubber-stamping of the amendment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cPlease note\u201d, she said, \u201cthat the amendment was approved in April 2015 \u2013 but the&nbsp;company didn\u2019t inform any of the objectors or interested and affected parties.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Section 10 of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act stipulates that the&nbsp;objectors should be allowed to make representations to the government\u2019s regional mining&nbsp;development and environmental committee before approval is granted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cTo date DMR has not responded to the appeal, and it is the view of various role-players&nbsp;that they will just hang this one out for as long as they can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Louw&nbsp;charged&nbsp;that&nbsp;the&nbsp;national&nbsp;and&nbsp;provincial&nbsp;departments&nbsp;were&nbsp;misinterpreting&nbsp;environmental law to justify lack of enforcement. The community also submitted a&nbsp;memorandum of complaint to DMR offices early in November, but \u201chave not received a&nbsp;response from the regional manager as requested\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tracey Davies, an attorney who works for the Centre for Environmental Rights in Cape&nbsp;Town, said as soon as Tormin started operating in March 2014 it applied to the DMR to&nbsp;change the environmental plan approved by the department two years earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere was a whole bunch of things they wanted to do, including increasing the footprint&nbsp;of the processing plant. They also wanted to put a garnet stripping plant but they don&#8217;t&nbsp;appear to have a mining right for garnet. They wanted to double the size of the plant and&nbsp;there were issues around public participation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cInitially, a DMR official told the company that they had to do an environmental impact&nbsp;assessment; the company went above him and complained to the regional manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAll of a sudden the application was granted in April 2015, and no further EIA or studies&nbsp;were done. The DMR has received complaints about this but has done nothing,\u201d said&nbsp;Davies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She alleged that Tormin had expanded the plant before the amended plan was approved&nbsp;in April 2015, meaning it was liable to a fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe DMR has been alerted to the fact people disagree with this situation and has done&nbsp;nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019re now sitting with the situation where Tormin have unlawfully expanded their&nbsp;operation, and the government departments responsible for monitoring have given them&nbsp;permission to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Davies said that as the Tormin case is \u201cone of our first examples of how the DMR is&nbsp;going to interpret environmental legislation, we\u2019re in huge trouble, especially because&nbsp;they are completely unresponsive, they won\u2019t listen, they won\u2019t respond to appeals, they&nbsp;just completely ignore the issue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Activists charge that enforcement has suffered after responsibility for enforcing&nbsp;environmental legislation on South Africa\u2019s mines was transferred from the&nbsp;environmental affairs department to the DMR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The complaints about Tormin\u2019s environmental practices have been taken up by the&nbsp;National Union of Minworkers, which has members at Tormin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On November 13 NUM members and the Matzikama municipality, which covers&nbsp;Lutzville and Vredendal, marched to the DMR offices in Cape Town to hand over a&nbsp;memorandum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Among other issues, this demanded that the suspension of Tormin\u2019s mining licence for&nbsp;\u201cthe illegal mining of conservation and no-go areas; plant water leakages which caused a&nbsp;cliff collapse; illegal dumping of garnet; illegal storing and pumping sewage into the&nbsp;ground\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Dismay as cops withdraw cases against Tormin managers<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Police cases against three Tormin mine managers, one of whom was accused of driving&nbsp;into and knocking over a mineworker during a strike, have all been withdrawn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">About 200 Tormin employees went on strike on September 4 over wages and working&nbsp;hours. Several were arrested after clashes with police and mine security guards, and ten&nbsp;miners and community leaders are to appear in court in January on charges of public&nbsp;violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But charges against three mine managers have been withdrawn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One charge \u2013 discharging a firearm in a public place \u2013 relates to accusations that during&nbsp;the strike Tormin\u2019s general manager instructed two private security guards to fire at a&nbsp;gyrocopter flying over the mine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Two shots were fired, but missed. No one was injured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Police spokesperson Frederick van Wyk said the docket was sent to the state prosecutor&nbsp;and the case withdrawn October 30 due to insufficient evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNo complaint was ever received from the person who flew over the area and no proof of&nbsp;any shooting could be found,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the Tormin employee who reported the incident said was not contacted by police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Although police took her statement, the employee said no one told her what happened to&nbsp;the case. \u201cI&#8217;m still waiting to hear from the police,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Charges against an engineering supervisor and a foreman were also withdrawn, Van&nbsp;Wyk said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The supervisor was charged with reckless and negligent driving after one of the miners,&nbsp;Isac Luveve, was knocked down by a vehicle on September 10, during the strike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Luveve was treated for minor injuries in hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The foreman was accused of using a loader from the mine to throw a burning tyre onto a&nbsp;vehicle during the strike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Abubakah Fredericks, National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) provincial organiser, said&nbsp;the justice system had failed the workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt&#8217;s very disappointing to see how the legal system works for some people. How can&nbsp;cases be withdrawn that easily? Especially the case that happened on September 4. We&nbsp;have video footage of the incident. The police were there and did nothing at the time,\u201d he&nbsp;said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Fredericks also said that 25 workers suspended after the strike on charges including&nbsp;\u201cparticipating in actions detrimental to the interests of the employer\u201d and \u201cbadmouthing&nbsp;the company\u201d, had been asked to sign new contracts and told not to join the NUM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Fredericks said the new contract meant workers would work fewer hours. If they agreed&nbsp;not to join the union, they would receive an 8% salary increase at the end of the year, he&nbsp;said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tormin spokesperson Anne Dunn said the company would not comment on the&nbsp;allegations or respond to other GroundUp questions. <em>&#8211;&nbsp;Barbara Maregele<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>*&nbsp;These articles are based on a joint investigation by amaBhungane and GroundUp.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>* Got a tip-off for us about this story? Click <a href=\"http:\/\/amabhungane.co.za\/page\/contact-amabhungane\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amabhungane.co.za\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/amabhungane.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/94x94.jpg\" width=\"94\" height=\"94\" align=\"left\"><\/a><strong>The <em>M&amp;G<\/em> Centre for Investigative Journalism (amaBhungane) produced this story. All views are ours. See <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amabhungane.co.za\">www.amabhungane.co.za <\/a> for our stories, activities and funding sources.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Activists have accused officials of turning a blind eye to a series of environmental violations at Tormin \u2013 including a \u201ccatastrophic\u201d cliff collapse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22712,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4340"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30759,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4340\/revisions\/30759"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}