South Africa’s government has decided to appeal elements of a recent landmark court ruling that requires it to obtain the consent of a rural community before it can issue mining licenses in their area. According to mining experts, South Africa’s 10 former homelands, which were established by the apartheid regime as communal areas where different tribes would reside, is where most new and expanding mining projects will be located. They want to protect their traditional way of life – which revolves around subsistence farming and foraging – from the impact of mining. Death threatsMbuthuma (41) told The Irish Times that she thought November’s high court ruling would afford her and other anti-mining activists some protection, but she maintains the death threats have kept coming despite the judgment. “The politicians do not want to respect the ruling of the court because of their own personal interests.

Source: The Irish Times December 31, 2018 00:56 UTC