Objections to the EIA reports

• Centre for Environmental Rights, environmental lawyers working with groundWork,

Earthlife Africa and other organisations • MEJCON, a national alliance of communities and activists affected by mining • MACUA – Mining Affected Communities United in Action, a national alliance of communities and activists affected by mining • WESSA, Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa, a well established conservation group • EWT, Endangered Wildlife Trust, another well established conservation group, with conservation projects active in the area • WWF, World Wide Fund for nature, yet another well established conservation group, with conservation projects active in the area • Birdlife Africa • All Rise attorneys, also involved in cases opposing coal mining in KZN (Somkhele and

Fuleni) • Eco-products, a local (Makhado) business that produces oil and cream from baobabs • Dzomo la Mupo, • Malumbwane and Mudimeli communities.

Objections to the EIA reports

A large number of objections dealt with the unconvincing reports on accessing water in a closed catchment. This is pursued in detail in the next section. Numerous other objections dealt with climate change, local pollution anticipated from the coal fired power station and proposed steel factories, the disturbance of eco-systems, including birds, and insects, the removal of vegetation, in particular of protected trees including the iconic and culturally important baobab tree, and the destruction of mopane trees, which host the culturally important food known as mopane worms. There were also a number of objections about the process that was followed and the apparent conflict of interest when LEDET makes decisions about a proposal from its own agency, the LEDA. These are likely to become legal challenges to the process. There are also challenges to the land reform process and the treatment of the owners of the land, the Malumbwane, as well as indigenous spiritual relationships to graves and other sacred places. The objections process resulted in a growing working alliance between a wide ranging group of actors in and beyond the area. This is discussed further in section 6.