Fossil Ad Ban campaign empowers coal-facing community
Greenwashing is a “fancy word” for the deceit by coal-mining companies that has led to disappointment, land dispossession and disease for members of the Carolina community in Mpumalanga.
This was some of the report-back from community leaders at a recent workshop organised by our Fossil Ad Ban (FAB) campaigners. The aim was to empower the community to discern greenwashing by mining companies, in order to better protect the community’s rights and wellbeing.
The workshop was held in collaboration with the Albert Luthuli Municipality, non-profit organisation Legal Aid, Umphakatsi Ecovillage and the Albert Luthuli Human Rights Advice Centre. The Black Women’s Caucus (BWC) contributed ideas on regenerative socio-economic enterprises.
About 15 community leaders attended each of the two days on which workshop was held, on November 11th and 12th. FAB campaign manager Lazola Kati delivered the workshop in isiZulu, supported by her fellow FAB campaigner Thameena Dhansay, and the participants were invited to respond in isiZulu and isiSwati.
Realising the participants had a lot to say about climate change, Lazola evoked their experiences of it before leading the discussion into the topic of greenwashing, of which they already had experience.
“I’ve deciphered what greenwashing is,” said participant Yvonne Kulu. “It’s when they come and promise us jobs (but instead) there is something that affects us, and the problems come from the mine.”
“Greenwashing is a way to bribe or lie to us,” said Ntombi Duma. “Some people promise us employment or bursaries for our children, and that never happens. We don’t receive anything, nor can we develop anything.”
“We’d like government to speak to the mines on our behalf,” she added. “The promises these companies make before opening these mines should be kept.”
Carolina is surrounded by 22 coal and some gold mines. Most of South Africa’s coal is mined in Mpumalanga, where 12 out of 15 of the country’s coal-fired power plants are located.
The community leaders told FAB that only paltry consultation processes took place before before some of the mining began: the mining authorities held discussions with the local chief or unidentified others who did not consult the community, so the mining went ahead without its consent, sometimes on sacred land.
In some instances land was “simply taken away”; the community members who had used it knew nothing about the mines before they “started seeing the digging and building.”
“Carolina is largely an agricultural community, much of it subsistence, so when land is misused or taken away, it means a lot to them,” said Lazola.
“We had a rich and interesting discussion with some passionate and highly motivated people who are keen to spread the information. They knew they were being greenwashed – and they finally have a word for what they were told would be good thing, but ended up a bad thing.
“Mainly women attended as many of the men were at the mines, but we gained a very painful picture of people’s lived experience there. They aware of climate crisis on an intimate level because they’re living it, and they jump at any opportunity to learn more.”
The participants reported that many mines promised jobs without specifying timeframes, then left after just a few months without filling in the holes or repairing the land. A few months ago, a dispute over the granting of permission and lost land led to fighting and bloodshed.
Many of the women and children have respiratory problems due to the intense air pollution caused by the coal mines.
Umphakatsi Ecovillage ran the first half of the workshop on how to create energy from biomass and renewable energy solutions, while FAB concentrated on evoking and discussing the lived experiences of the community.
Said workshop participant Smangele Zulu: “Climate change affects us where we live. We hardly have water; we haven’t had it for two months because of the lack of rain and high temperatures. And when it rains too much, people’s houses are ruined. The children can’t go to school; the schools and the corrugated roofs collapse.”
“We experience very high temperatures and very low temperatures,” said Jabulsile Mhlongo. “Not all of our crops are growing. The sand swallows the plants. Our children, or the newborns, have sinitus and eye problems.”
Learn more about our Fossil Ad Ban campaign, and register you support or report fossil fuel greenwashing here.
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