The Amadiba Crisis Committee (ACC) is a social movement based in the Amadiba region of Pondoland in the Eastern Cape, in South Africa. It was formed in 2007 by villagers in and around Xolobeni to fight a proposed titanium mine in their area. [1]
The Amadiba Crisis Committee (ACC) is a social movement based in the Amadiba region of Pondoland in the Eastern Cape, in South Africa. It was formed in 2007 by villagers in and around Xolobeni to fight a proposed titanium mine in their area. [1]
The Xolobeni village is situated on the Wild Coast in the Pondoland region of the Eastern Cape. During apartheid, the area where the Amadiba are situated was formerly known as the Transkei. It was the site of the 1950-1961 Pondo Revolt which challenged the introduction of the Bantu Authorities and the stealing of their land. It was one of the few regions of the Transkei that was able to resist apartheid government imposed headmen and chiefs, always insisting on choosing their own leadership. [2] [3] The Wild Coast is known for its natural beauty and for its natural coastline. It is a popular area for eco-tourism.
The proposed Xolobeni mine is a project by Transworld, a wholly owned subsidiary of Australian corporation Mineral Commodities (MRC). The area is estimated to contain about 348.7 million tonnes of ore grading 5%titanium and 139 million tonnes of titanium-bearing minerals making it potentially one of the biggest titanium mines in the country. [4]
A study from the 2000s by the government of the Eastern Cape raised concerns about the potential environmental hazards caused by mining in the area, including the high water requirements which would require a tailings dam causing a significant impact to the local environment and local estuaries. [5]
Residents in the Coastal Amadiba area have also raised concerns about the possible removal and relocation of their homesteads. About 200 households could be displaced from their homes and their farms as a result. The increased road traffic as a result of the mine and the effect on local eco-tourism which provides a significant amount of jobs in the area as also significant concerns of the ACC. [6] [7]
The ACC's opposition to the mine has been very controversial. A number of prominent leaders of the ACC have been threatened with assassination with one of its leaders being killed.
In March 2016, ACC chairperson Sikhosiphi Bazooka Rhadebe who was assassinated by unknown gunmen. His family was also injured during the attack. After the incident, the Committee reported that "Rhadebe was shot eight times outside his house at about 7.30pm by two men who arrived at his home in a white vehicle with a blue rotating light on its roof". [8] [9] ACC spokesperson Nonhle Mbuthuma has also been the target of numerous death threats. This has been condemned by Amnesty International [10] [11]
The Amadiba Crisis Committee has also spearheaded opposition to a proposed N2 Toll Road by the South African National Roads that would cut through Coastal Amadiba land. ACC opposes the road because they claim it would divide its community in two, take away traditional communal land from homesteads as well as threaten the livelihood of community members. They also claim its part of a strategy to subsidise the proposed titanium mine by bringing a national road directly to the land where the mine is being proposed. [12] [13]
The ACC has also been one of the key opponents of a controversial decision by South Africa's Department of Mineral Resources and Energy to award Shell exploration rights to conduct seismic surveys off the Wild Coast. They recently celebrated a victory when the High Court set aside the Department's 2014 decision putting a stop to any exploration for the foreseeable future. [14] [15]
In early 2023 the organisation claimed that death threats had been made against two its leaders, Nonhle Mbuthuma and Thwesha Silangwe in relation to opposition to a planned toll road that would run through communally owned and managed land. [16]
The Mpondo People or simply AmaMpondo, is one of the kingdoms in what is now the Eastern Cape. Having been established way back in the year 1228. The AmaMpondo Nation were first ruled by its founder who was King Mpondo kaNjanya who lived around (1205-1280) and later the 'AmaNyawuza'clan, by nationality referred to themselves as 'AmaMpondo'. They are related to other AbaMbo kingdoms and chiefdoms in South Africa.
The Maputaland-Pondoland bushland and thickets is one of the ecoregions of South Africa. It consists of the montane shrubland biome.
Princess Stella Nomzamo Sigcau was a Minister in the South African Government. Sigcau was also the first female Prime Minister of the bantustan of Transkei before being deposed in a military coup in 1987.
Pondoland or Mpondoland, is a natural region on the South African shores of the Indian Ocean. It is located in the coastal belt of the Eastern Cape province. Its territory is the former Mpondo Kingdom of the Mpondo people.
King Botha Sigcau was a King in Eastern Pondoland, Transkei, South Africa (1939–1976) and later the figurehead President of Transkei from 1976 to 1978. A graduate of the University of Fort Hare, Sigcau was an early supporter of the Bantu Authorities in Transkei and was rewarded by the South African government when he was appointed chairman of the Transkei Territorial Authority, the parliament before independence.
The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) is a South African state-owned enterprise responsible for most passenger rail services in the country.
Bizana is a town in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Winnie Madikizela-Mandela Local Municipality.
The Wild Coast is a section of the coast of the Eastern Cape, a province of South Africa. The region stretches from East London in the south to the border of KwaZulu-Natal in the north. It is the traditional home of the Mpondo people, and the birthplace of many prominent South Africans, including Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki.
The Pondoland Centre of Plant Endemism is situated in the coastal region overlapping the provinces of KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape in South Africa. It is named after Pondoland and falls within the Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany Hotspot. The region consists of grassy plateaus incised by forested ravines and gorges. The main substrate in the area is Natal Group Sandstone, which was formed by sediments laid down about 500 million years ago in a rift underlying the eastern Agulhas Sea in the ancient continent of Gondwana. The region is about 18,800 hectares in extent, and lies along the coastline stretching about 15 kilometres inland with a maximum altitude of about 400 to 500 metres above sea level. The region is essentially a transition zone between sub-tropical and temperate climates.
The Central Line is a commuter rail service in Cape Town, South Africa, operated by Metrorail Western Cape. Central Line services operate along two routes from central Cape Town to Langa, and then along three branches from Langa to various areas in the south-east of the city. The first branch runs to Mitchell's Plain, the second to Khayelitsha, and the third passes through Belhar to terminate in Bellville.
Port St. Johns Municipality is a local municipality within the OR Tambo District Municipality, in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.
The Constitution of South Africa protects all basic political freedoms. However, there have been many incidents of political repression, dating back to at least 2002, as well as threats of future repression in violation of this constitution leading some analysts, civil society organisations and popular movements to conclude that there is a new climate of political repression or a decline in political tolerance.
Port St. Johns is a town of about 6,500 people on the Wild Coast in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated at the mouth of the Umzimvubu River, 220 kilometres (140 mi) northeast of East London and 70 kilometres (40 mi) east of Mthatha. Port St. Johns was the Birthplace of Capital Radio 604.
Lusikisiki is a town in the Ingquza Hill Local Municipality in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. The name is onomatopoeic, derived from the rustling sound of reeds in the wind, named by the local Xhosa people. Lusikisiki is 45 kilometres (28 mi) inland from and north of Port St Johns. The town is positioned along the R61 leading to Mthatha to the west and Port Shepstone to the north-east.
There have been a number of political assassinations in post-apartheid South Africa. In 2013 it was reported that there had been more than 450 political assassinations in the province of KwaZulu-Natal since the end of apartheid in 1994. In July 2013 the Daily Maverick reported that there had been "59 political murders in the last five years". In August 2016 it was reported that there had been at least twenty political assassinations in the run up to the local government elections on the 3rd of August that year, most of them in KwaZulu-Natal.
The Xolobeni mine is a proposed titanium mine located in the Wild Coast region of the Eastern Cape of South Africa. The proposed mine has reserves amounting to 348.7 million tonnes of ore grading 5% titanium.
Sikhosiphi Rhadebe, also known as Bazooka, was an activist who was chairperson of the Amadiba Crisis Committee (ACC), an organisation campaigning against mining in Xolobeni in the Pondoland region of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.
The Indian Ocean coastal belt is one of the nine recognised biomes of South Africa. They are described in terms of their vegetation and climatic variations.
Reclaim The City (RTC) is a non-racial social movement fighting for land and housing in Cape Town's inner-city and wealthy suburbs. Reclaim The City is known for its campaigns for affordable and low-income housing as well as spearheading the occupation of two empty and dilapidated government buildings which it turned into housing for poor and vulnerable families.
John Anthony Copelyn is a South African businessman and former trade unionist who has been chief executive officer of Hosken Consolidated Investments (HCI) since 1997. He entered the company as the head of the investment wing of the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers Union (SACTWU), where he was formerly general secretary.
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