Fikile Ntshangase

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Fikile Ntshangase
NationalitySouth African
Occupationenvironmental activist

Fikile Ntshangase was a South African environmental activist who was assassinated on 22 October 2020. She was a leading member of the Mfolozi Community Environmental Justice Organisation (MCEJO), which is taking legal action against the proposed expansion of an open-cast coal mine operated by Tendele Coal Mining (Pty) Ltd, near Somkhele, situated near Hluhluwe–iMfolozi park, the oldest nature reserve in Africa. [1]

Contents

Environmental activism

Environmental work

Ntshangase was a Vice-Chairperson of a sub-committee of the MCEJO. [2] The organisation previously challenged mining expansion in Mthethwa through Environmental Impact Assessment processes. MCEJO receives support from Earthlife Africa, groundWork, ActionAid South Africa, and WoMin.

Mpukunyoni Community

MCEJO became involved in challenging the Somkhele mine on the request of residents in the Mpukunyoni community. Tendele Coal Mining had been granted additional rights in the area and expansion of the mine would reach near the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve. [3] The mine is located near Ntshangase’s home in Ophondweni in the KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa. It is the largest African producer of anthracite, which is used in steel production. [4] The Mpukunyoni community has traditionally depended on herding and agriculture, [3] but the Somkhele Coal Mine and the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi game park are currently the biggest employers of the community. [1]

Health concerns related to the mine have been raised by the local community, including respiratory-related issues linked to coal dust; the pollution of drinking water; and dried up water sources. [5] Cultural concerns were also lodged as ancestral graves where exhumed and moved elsewhere without proper identification. [1] Additionally, the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve plays a significant role in the environment conservation efforts around the white rhino, and there are fears from the reserve that the expansion of the Somkhele mine close to its border would intensify poaching. [6]

Ntshangase was part of a legal dispute that opposed the expansion the Somkhele mine. With the assistance of Attorneys for climate change and environmental justice, ALL RISE, MCEJO instituted legal action against Tendele Coal Mining to cease its activity in the Somkhele mine until it had amended its environmental management plan and obtained relevant permits for waste management and the removal of protected plants in the area. [7] The Pietermaritzburg High Court held that Tendele was not required to have environmental authorisation for its mining rights. [8] When the case was appealed, the Supreme Court of Appeals dismissed the case on the basis MCEJO and ALL RISE not specifying the specific activities undertaken by Tendele that required environmental authorisation. [8]

Rising tensions

The local community had been split regarding the mine's expansion, leading to rising tensions. Some had been campaigning to preserve their rural livelihoods and the environment, but other community members needed work from the mine and supported expansion. [3] Some Mpukunyoni locals protested proposed relocations related to Tendele’s expansion, citing inadequate public consultation prior to the awarding of mining rights to the company. [1] Locals near the mine had been subject to intimidation and threats of violence in the months prior to Ntshangase's murder. Families who refused to be relocate from their ancestral lands were reportedly shot at. In April of 2020, 19 bullets were shot at the home of another anti-mining activist, Tholakele Mthethwa. [3]

Tendele mines initially attempted to reach an agreement with MCEJO to withdraw the court cases against the company, to which some MCEJO members agreed. [9] Ntshangase had reportedly declined to sign an agreement and refused the company's bribe. She reportedly said, “I refused to sign. I cannot sell out my people. And if need be, I will die for my people.” [10]

Death

At around 6:30pm on 22 October 2020, according to local police, three men entered Ntshangase’s home in Ophondweni, and shot her dead (six times) a few meters away from her thirteen-year-old grandson and two of his friends (at ages eight and ten). [2] She was 63 years old and had been cutting onions for dinner at the time. [3]

Ntshangase’s death was part of a rising trend of murdered environmental activists, as a record number were killed around the world in both 2019 and 2020, according to Global Witness reports. [2] [11] These deaths relate to environmental activists’s challenges to fossil fuel industries, as well as to local community divisions around how environmental advocacy can impact their livelihoods in the absence of a just transition. [4]

International response

Ntshangase's death has been condemned as murder by multiple environmental and humanitarian organizations. For example, on October 27, 2020, environmental organization groundWork sent a letter to various South African authorities requesting an immediate investigation into her death, which was supported by international network of environmental organizations Friends of the Earth. [10] Human Rights Watch wrote a similar letter. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mining</span> Extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth

Mining is the extraction of valuable geological materials from the Earth and other astronomical objects. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agricultural processes, or feasibly created artificially in a laboratory or factory. Ores recovered by mining include metals, coal, oil shale, gemstones, limestone, chalk, dimension stone, rock salt, potash, gravel, and clay. The ore must be a rock or mineral that contains valuable constituent, can be extracted or mined and sold for profit. Mining in a wider sense includes extraction of any non-renewable resource such as petroleum, natural gas, or even water.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coal mining</span> Process of getting coal out of the ground

Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United Kingdom and South Africa, a coal mine and its structures are a colliery, a coal mine is called a 'pit', and the above-ground structures are a 'pit head'. In Australia, "colliery" generally refers to an underground coal mine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hluhluwe–Imfolozi Park</span> Nature reserve in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Hluhluwe–Imfolozi Park, formerly Hluhluwe–Umfolozi Game Reserve, is the oldest proclaimed nature reserve in Africa. It consists of 960 km² of hilly topography 280 kilometres (170 mi) north of Durban in central KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and is known for its rich wildlife and conservation efforts. Operated by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, the park is the only state-run park in KwaZulu-Natal where each of the big five game animals can be found.

Newmont Corporation is an American gold mining company based in Greenwood Village, Colorado. It is the world's largest gold mining corporation. Incorporated in 1921, it owns gold mines in Nevada, Colorado, Ontario, Quebec, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Australia, Ghana, Argentina, Peru, and Suriname. In addition to gold, Newmont mines copper, silver, zinc and lead.

Anglo American plc is a British multinational mining company with headquarters in London, England. It is the world's largest producer of platinum, with around 40% of world output, as well as being a major producer of diamonds, copper, nickel, iron ore, polyhalite and steelmaking coal. The company has operations in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hluhluwe</span> Place in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Hluhluwe is a small town in northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It is situated between iSimangaliso Wetland Park and Hluhluwe–iMfolozi Park on the banks of the Hluhluwe River. Hluhluwe is situated on the elephant coast, an area known for its national parks, natural diversity and cultural heritage. Although relatively undeveloped the area is of growing interest to international tourists and travelers. Several local and international movies have been filmed in Hluhluwe, such as I Dreamed of Africa,Ghost Son, and documentaries filmed in the surrounding national parks.

Environmental justice or eco-justice, is a social movement to address environmental injustice, which occurs when poor and marginalized communities are harmed by hazardous waste, resource extraction, and other land uses from which they do not benefit. The movement has generated hundreds of studies showing that exposure to environmental harm is inequitably distributed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norilsk Nickel</span> Russian mining company

Norilsk Nickel, or Nornickel, is a Russian nickel and palladium mining and smelting company. Its largest operations are located in the Norilsk–Talnakh area near the Yenisei River in the north of Siberia. It also has holdings in Nikel, Zapolyarny, and Monchegorsk on the Kola Peninsula, in Harjavalta in western Finland, and in South Africa.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coal in South Africa</span> Coal mining and consumption in South Africa

South Africa produces in excess of 255 million tonnes of coal and consumes almost three-quarters of that domestically. As of 2018, South Africa was the seventh largest producer and consumer of coal in the world. This large industry, means that as of 2015 about 80,000 workers, or .5% of total employment, was from the coal industry, down from a peak in 1981 of 135,000 workers. The coal industry is South Africa's largest contribution to the greenhouse gases that cause climate change.

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uMfolozi Local Municipality Local municipality in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

uMfolozi Local Municipality is a local municipality within the King Cetshwayo District Municipality of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. It is situated around the town of KwaMbonambi, to the north of Richard's Bay, stretching from the Indian Ocean to the edge of the Hluhluwe–Imfolozi Park.

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.

Woodhouse Colliery, also known as Whitehaven coal mine, is a proposed coal mine near to Whitehaven in Cumbria, England. The proposal is for the first deep coal mine in England since Asfordby pit in 1986. The coal mine has been advertised as bringing jobs to a deprived area but has also come in for criticism by green campaigners. In 2019, Cumbria County Council granted the planning permission for the venture.

Hazaribagh Area is one of the operational areas of the Central Coalfields Limited located mainly in the Hazaribagh and Ramgarh districts in the state of Jharkhand, India.

The Tendele Coal is a coal mining operation in South Africa principally known for its Somkhele Coal Mine in KwaZulu-Natal province. The open cast coal mine was first opened in 2007, and largely produces metallurgical coal that is exported out of Richards Bay.

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.

Isaiah Boy Ntshangase was a South African politician who represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the National Assembly from 1999 until his death in 2001. A lionised figure in the ANC Youth League, he was provincial chairperson of the league's KwaZulu-Natal branch from 1996 to 2000. Before that, he was an activist in the South African Youth Congress.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Kockott, Fred; Hattingh, Matthew (28 October 2020). "South African activist killed as contentious coal mine seeks to expand". Mongabay Environmental News. Archived from the original on 10 February 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 Greenfield, Patrick (23 October 2020). "South African environmental activist shot dead in her home". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 21 March 2021. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Koko, Khaya (7 November 2020). "How we braved danger to honour Fikile Ntshangase". Mail & Guardian. Archived from the original on 21 March 2021. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  4. 1 2 Bond, Patrick (17 February 2022). "Lessons from the assassination of Fikile Ntshangase: Climate violence, the "Right to say No!", uncompensated resource extraction, financial profiteering and unpaid ecological debt in South Africa's coal mining belt". CADTM. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
  5. ↑ Koko, Khaya (7 November 2020). "Tendele's mine pollutes their air and water, residents claim". The Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
  6. ↑ "Mining impacts on Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park". Roving Reporters. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
  7. ↑ "Somkhele - All Rise" . Retrieved 17 February 2022.
  8. 1 2 Kirsten, Youens (20 January 2022). "Unfortunate Environmental Authorisation Precedent Stands as Application to the Constitutional Court Dismissed - All Rise" . Retrieved 17 February 2022.
  9. ↑ Schneider, Victoria (12 November 2021). "Legal challenge to South Africa mine expansion looks to set new landmark". Mongabay Environmental News. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
  10. 1 2 "Condemnation of the assassination of Mama Fikile Ntshangase in South Africa". Friends of the Earth International. 6 November 2020. Archived from the original on 15 May 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  11. ↑ Marshall, Claire (13 September 2021). "Record number of environmental activists murdered". BBC News. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  12. ↑ "Letter to the South Africa Department of Police in support of a prompt, thorough, and impartial investigation into the recent killing of environmental activist Mama Fikile Ntshangase". Human Rights Watch. 2 November 2020. Archived from the original on 21 May 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
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