Testimonies reveal the uncaring nature of mining in Africa

"Through these meetings .... we can ensure that extractive industries in developing countries can benefit and ensure better livelihoods for the miners and their communities...." Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane, 2 February 2010, officially opening the Alternative Mining Indaba, a platform for civil society and communities to discuss mining and its impact on communities.

Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) are an important link between government, mining companies and the communities within which mining operations take place. This was revealed when more than 50 participants from 20 CSOs met for the Alternative Mining Indaba, at the Fountains Hotel, Cape Town, a few streets from the official Mining Indaba taking place at the Cape Town International Conference Centre, to hear harrowing testimonies from people directly affected by unethical mining practices and whose lives and livelihoods have been shattered.

This was a platform created by several civil society organisations: Economic Justice Network, IDASA, ESSET, Bench-Marks in collaboration with the Norwegian Church Aid, to bring attention to the situation on the ground among the communities living in mining areas. The testimonies gave details of unfulfilled promises around relocations to make way for mining, deaths in the community as a result of the dangerous environment created by the mines, poor housing provided as alternative accommodation for displaced communities, poor working conditions for the few who secure employment and the impact mining has on women and households in general.

CSOs work directly with the communities on a variety of issues, as do religious leaders from different faiths, particularly in Tanzania and Zambia, and Extractive Industries has come under scrutiny because of the devastating impact mining has on the vulnerable communities. CSOs were able to bring the communities to a space where their voices would be heard and where their cries for justice could be juxtaposed with the very voice of the mining corporate who had gathered to take stock of mining ventures throughout the world and to ostensibly chart the way forward. The stark reality emerged that there exists a large void between the expectations of communities and the subsequent actions of mining companies and government when mining is unleashed on ill-prepared and ill-informed communities.