By
Rorisang Mahlo
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| Kolo Community Gathering |
In an attempt to avoid
unnecessary conflict of interest between the villagers and Kolo Mine, the
Ministry of Mining organised a public gathering as a platform to provide for
the voice of the voiceless. The gathering was held at Kolo Ha Petlane on Friday
the 18th May, 2018 where all Stakeholder Ministries, the Local
Council, the Civil Society Organisations and nearby villages were represented.
It is in this gathering where the
former Mining Principal Secretary (PS) Mr. Soaile Mochaba, addressed the
villagers and explained that the Mine was within its boundaries to extend their
production area as it has been granted in their Mining Lease in the year 2011.
In his address PS Mining
explained that “it is a norm or a common
practice in the diamond producing company to start by fencing only certain
selected portion of a leased mining area, and later enlarge to the large area
it had been allocated for as its operation may deem it fit to,” said Mr
Mochaba.
In addition the Senior Mining
Engineer Mr. Mohato Moima showed that villagers whose livelihoods would be affected
by the mine`s operations (fence extension in this regard) would have to be
compensated accordingly.
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| Hon. Putsoane- The Mascadel -MP-Kolo |
On behalf of the people of Kolo
Constituency and as Member of the Parliament, Hon. Putsoane Leeto- “The
Mascadel” as nicknamed by his age mates, strongly indicated that “we as Kolo
host Community are really not against Reskol Diamond Mine, we are only not happy in the manner in which
the extension practice was conducted,” said Hon. Putsoane.
Adding that “in this regard the
Reskol Mine Operator wanted to portray us as delinquents while they have
decided to ignore the proper procedures of tempering with the land though they
are still holding the mining rights to use it,” said Hon. Putsoane. He insisted
that “please do the honours that you are supposed to do and see if this
community will not corporate with you,” added “The Mascadel”.
Most importantly, the majority of
the locals were blaming the mining company of failing to give them a priority
on the issues of employment and compensation for the land use that they have
forfeited.
However, the Reskol Diamond mine
Manager did not deny the blame but simply clarified the general misunderstanding
that, they might have started their commercial mining while they are not.
“Reskol is currently at the Trial Mining Stage and we are just about to
complete our trial stage. We are now only left with one kind of a Kimberlite,
out of the four that we were supposed to take for sampling,” said Lehloholono
Lesia.
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| Former PS-Mining- MR. Mochaba |
In order to put this matter under
control, PS Mining stood up to promise the villagers that their grievance has
been heard and noted. “Therefore for the quick solution of this issue, I will
give a directive to the Ministry`s Mines Community Resolution Team, to help us
get to the bottom of this issue,” announced PS Mining. Specifically he promised
the community that a specific date will be communicated with all role player
first and the anticipated sitting will either be by the end of month May, if
not the first week of June 2018.
In a nutshell, the Ministry has
identified certain areas of importance that needs to be addressed in order to
curb the prevalent situation at Kolo. First the mine will have to demarcate all
the 25 square Kilometers coordinates granted in their lease. Secondly, to
advise Reskol Mine to consider the importance of using the inclusive decision
making, particularly on the issues of concern to the local communities.
Finally, this company is expected to complete
its trial mining by December 2018 after a lengthy suspension of their trial
operations earlier this year with the challenges of their diamond plant
configuration machinery.
