Water laws don’t apply to minister’s husband

While farmers are fighting for their survival and trying to prevent minerals and energy minister Buyelwa Sonjica from issuing mining licenses to coal operations in Mpumalanga, another ministerial household is profiting from an illegal coalmine in the province.
Water affairs and forestry minister Lindiwe Hendricks’ husband, Andrew, is a director at the Vuna group, which mines coal on the Olifants River near Middleburg in Mpumalanga – without a water license.
Vuna is one of about 22 mines operating without water licenses in Mpumalanga.
Over the last two years Hendricks and her department’s director-general Pam Yako have repeatedly called on mines in Mpumalanga to stop their illegal water use. However, to date, not a single mine has been prosecuted.
Last year, Hendricks executed a public water raid where the media and several water rights groups were invited to witness action being taken against farmers allegedly irrigating from rivers without the necessary documentation.
But a similar raid on the mines is yet to be performed.
Mike Harrington, a senior official at Vuna, confirmed that the company would continue coal mining for the next seven months without a water license.
He said they are currently in the process of acquiring a license, but there’s a huge backlog at the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. – Peter Mashala