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The community of Ga Chaba has once again been forced to shut down the Anglo Platinum Mogalakwena Mine in  Mapela area outside of Mokopane.

This morning the community of Ga Chaba awoke to blockaded roads leading into the Mogalakwena mine.  No workers have been able to enter the premises for the day. The community claim the Mine Management has negotiated in bad faith, have manipulated community structures to suit their own ends, have not kept its promises to employ and develop the local area and have utilised payments to the tribal authority to sow division among the community.

The police were soon on the ground in Ga Chaba and immediately started to look for key activists in the community and arrested three activists at their homes. The activists were not told why they were arrested and at least one activist, Samuel Mashishi has reported an injury as a result of what appears to be an unlawful arrest.

It has been reported by Betty Laka a local community leader that the Human Resources Managament of AngloPlatinum approached the community to negotiate the clearance of the roads b7t the community refused to negotiate unless the three arrested activists were released.  Mrs Laka claims that the AngloPlats representative then went to speak to the police who were located close by and arranged for the three activists to be released. This raises a number of legal and jurisdictional issues about the lawful conduct of the police in arresting the activists, as well as the authority exercised by AngloPlat to negotiate their release.

The mine management and the community are currently negotiating the way forward under a tree in the community.

Issued by Action Aid