Community members from Limpopo will picket outside the Pretoria High Court on Monday, 15 Feb 2010. The community members have recently filed a legal case challenging Anglo Platinum’s expansion onto their land. Within 2 weeks of the legal case filing, their attorney, human rights lawyer Richard Spoor was set to appear at trial due to a lawsuit against him by Anglo Platinum and Patrice Motsepe’s African Rainbow Minerals.

Community members and their supporters see this as a way for Anglo to divert Richard Spoor’s time and resources away from their case toward this defamation case against him.

Community members are fed up! When the Sekuruwe community protested at their ploughing fields last week, one community leader was arrested in the midst of the South African Police Service forcefully pushing the community off the LAND THAT IS IN DISPUTE BY A CURRENTLY FILED LEGAL CASE. This expansion further onto their ploughing fields is threatening their food security, and the community members have vowed to boycott the Minister of Mining’s initiative to form a task team, in which these communities participate.

For More Information, Please Contact: Phillopos Dolo 073 789 2489, Brand Nthako 082 628 1362, or Anne Mayher 082 398 6882.

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Earlier press statement for background information

ANGLO PLATINUM BULLDOZES SEKURUWE COMMUNITY’S MEALIE FIELDS

Today the Sekuruwe community stood and watched as Anglo Platinum proceeded to bulldoze land the community used for ploughing fields.

This aggressive violation by the mining company is the latest development in a week of hostile action against the community on its remaining land, this after a year of systematic destruction of its most arable land.

One community elder said “Anglo Platinum has already destroyed everything where we ploughed. We had crops coming up already and they are now all destroyed.”

The community has repeatedly stated that they did NOT give consent for Anglo Platinum to use their land. Despite repeated requests and demands that Anglo Platinum stop working on their land until the dispute is settled, Anglo Platinum proceeded to destroy the community’s fields, and call the police to arrest anyone who attempts to go onto their land to protect their crops.

47 community members were arrested last year when the community tried to stop Anglo Platinum’s contractor, Phuti Funeral Homes, from removing graves on the same farm without the community’s consent.

The community intends to express their frustration by demonstrating at the site tomorrow, and they also plan to demand that the Minister of Mining intervene and stop Anglo Platinum from destroying their land.

The community members wonder when will government ever come to their aid as they watch their land, their water, and their ancestors be destroyed at the hands of Anglo Platinum.

For more information, please contact Mr. James Shiburi 072 478 3894

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Anne Mayher
Email: akmayher [at] gmail [dot] com
Mobile: 082 398 6882