Organisers of the Mining Indaba, which is the one of the biggest events on the mining calendar in the southern hemisphere, should include civil society and communities to partake in critical deliberations, if it is to have tangible outcomes. This is the opinion of Jo Seoka, Chairperson of the Benchmarks Foundation.
Seoka suggests that 50% representation at the meeting should be allocated to the ‘marginalised’ groups. He says: “For five years we have tried to influence the mining indaba’s outcomes and we will continue to do so until we prevent mines from seeking easy entrance into communities and extrapolating our resources.”
He is concerned that the main agenda at the Mining Indaba is purely profit driven, regardless of the communities from where ore is extracted. “This is dangerous as those who would contribute vital information and insights are excluded and not heard,” he explains, adding that the fees are deliberately structured to prevent people from attending.
Further, Seoka finds it ludicrous that those at the mining Indaba brag about the standards they have adopted and how they report, while they wreak havoc everywhere they mine. He declares: “We say enough is enough: change is needed now!’
The Mining Indaba is running from 9 to 12 February 2015, and Transform SA Online is covering the event.
