Mining is a destructive activity that poses significant threats to the environment, health and livelihoods. Managing these threats to avoid the violation of Constitutional rights requires strong, well-resourced and principled regulation. This is according to Cape Town-based nonprofit organisation and law clinic Centre for Environmental Rights’ (CER’s) ‘Zero Hour: Poor Governance of Mining and the Violation of Environmental Rights in Mpumalanga’ report, which was released last month. The report says that over the past 14 years, Mpumalanga has experienced a “proliferation” of prospecting and mining right applications, particularly for coal.
