Political Elites Keep the Blinkers On.

*This article first appeared in the Star: Authors Henk Smith and Christopher Rutledge.

Despite the mounting evidence, at both a local and international level, of a growing discontent among citizens and their rejection of elite driven political solutions, our politicians in South Africa continue to plough ahead as if they existed in a special political cocoon, assuming that the on rushing light is the soothing end of the tunnel. Instead it is as Mettalica reminds us: “the soothing light at the end of your tunnel, Is just a freight train coming your way”.

Then, as if the electoral tremors of the local government elections were not enough, we were soon treated to the type of brazen arrogance we have now become accustomed to when dealing with the question of black lives, when the Esidimeni mass deaths came to light.

Similarly, the entrenchment of structural violence in the mining sector through the currently unfolding legislative process to amend the mining legislation under the Minerals Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA), without taking into account the views, interests and concerns of mining affected communities, continues the brazen institutional arrogance we have become accustomed to from our political elites.

When the Bill first came up for amendments in 2012, Parliament received submissions from a number of civil society and community organisations, about the lack of institutionalised processes which allow communities to determine their own inclusive development paths and their right to have a say about the destructive impacts of mining on their lands.

These submissions were roundly rejected by parliament and instead community representatives were subjected to the most heinous insults and disrespect. Instead evidence emerged of side-line meetings between the DMR and business and their attempts to manipulate the legislative process.

After many delays the Bill was rushed through the National Assembly and the NCOP in an attempt to railroad the continuation of structural violence on mining affected communities. The Bill would most likely have been approved by the President, had it not been for the objections raised by Mining Affected Communities United in Action, MACUA, who represent over 150 organisations among mining affected communities, about the lack of public consultations.

The right of public participation in legislative processes has by now been firmly affirmed by Constitutional Court in various judgements. Most notable among these judgements are Justice Ngcobo`s judgement in 2006 and most recently the Land Access judgement handed down by the Constitutional Court in July 2016. In a unanimous judgement the court found that: “The legislative processes which resulted in the Amendment Act, enacted to give effect to the right (right to restitution in land), by implication needed to include comprehensive public participation”.

It is thus perplexing to note that this current parliament is dead set on repeating the mistakes of the past.

Having had the Bill in various stages since 2012, and with growing pressure from the industry and investors to provide legislative certainty the political elite now appear to once again be attempting to bypass public participation while inexplicable attempting to introduce a further 56 amendments to the Bill which mostly seek to further exclude the rights of mining affected communities to determine their own destinies.

Both The Legal Resources Centre (LRC) on behalf of the Land Access Movement of South Africa and ActionAid, in conjunction with MACUA have written to the Select Committee on the MPRDA to object to what appears to us to be a blatant circumvention of the constitutional obligations which have been affirmed by the Constitutional Court on numerous occasions.

In our letter to the Select Committee we note that ; “We are concerned that as an interested party who has made submissions to Parliament on the proposed amendments to the Bill, that we have not been notified of these proposals nor have we been notified of provincial hearing dates. It has come to our attention that some of the provincial hearings have already happened or are currently in the process of being held.”

We note further that : “During 2015 and 2016, MACUA and AASA travelled the length and breadth of South Africa to collect inputs related to the MPRDA, from over 150 communities and over 15 civil society organisations, and compiled these into a Peoples Mining Charter which communities intended to present to Parliament or the Provincial Hearings.”

The LRC for its part noted among a host of other contentious matters that: “It is inexplicable why the department is now proposing the removal of community participation conditions, and is refusing to heed the call for community consent [free prior informed consent or FPIC, and the right to negotiate] as a requirement for mining on communal land.”

Despite all the warning signs, both sociological and legal, our political elite refuse to see the freight train,  and like Dante` who travelled through hell and purgatory to get to paradise we find ourselves in a “forest dark… for the straightforward pathway had been lost.”

In the final analysis, the MPRDA, and the current parliamentary rush to maintain the colonial legacy of mining in South Africa, which ensures that mining affected communities continue to bear the brunt of the environmental and social impoverishment wrought by an industry controlled by the political and economic elites, must be abandoned in its entirety and a new inclusive mining regime needs to be brought into the centre of our collective efforts to decolonise the mining industry.

Anything less, and myopic attempts to maintain a business as usual political façade,  can only lead to greater strife among impoverished mining affected communities and virtually assures that the oncoming freight train will meet us head on. It is time for all South Africans to claim back their power and to insist on less elite deals and greater public participation.