Picture: The Chairperson of the Select Committee on Public Petitions and Executive Undertakings, Ofentse Mokae
By BAKANG MOKOTO
25 April 2026 – The Select Committee on Public Petitions and Executive Undertakings held a follow-up engagement yesterday at Magog village in Umzumbe, KwaZulu-Natal with M.K. Sithole and other relevant stakeholders yesterday, following a report the committee tabled in December on the petition brought before it by Sithole (Petitioner) and family.
The committee said the petitioner (Sithole), approached the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) regarding an alleged environmental degradation and exposure to dust, noise and blasting, reported structural damage to nearby homes, alleged health impact on residents and alleged violations of cultural and human rights arising from grave disturbance and relocation. The committee heard from the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment that SA Lithium is required to ensure compliance with the National Environmental Management Act.
The Chairperson of the Select Committee on Public Petitions and Executive Undertakings, Ofentse Mokae said it also heard that the department has noted a lack of accredited data, an absence of meteorological reports, that the environmental management system at the site is inadequate and that the department will fully support the community to ensure compliance by SA Lithium. Mokae said according to the petitioner, a multi-disciplinary committee must be formed to oversee the implementation of the report.
“The committee must be constituted by professionals from engineering, healthcare, education fields, and there must be representatives from the community. The Department of Minerals, Resources and Energy called for compliance with the mining laws and regulations.
“The Department of Human Settlements reported that land for the relocation of some of the households in the area should be purchased and that the department will work speedily to ensure that the implementation of relocation takes place with minimal disruption especially to the lives of the people,” he said.
Mokae further said the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs reported that work has started in the exhumation of some of the graves and that the graveyard will be relocated to an area within Magog. He added that the committee also heard that the residents demand compensation and have assigned that responsibility as an urgent task to the multi-disciplinary committee.
“Furthermore, the residents have called on the multi-disciplinary committee to establish the compensation fund to ensure that equitable compensation is paid to all the affected residents.
“All the stakeholders have agreed to implement the recommendations of the committee’s report and that a multi-party and multi sectoral committee will be formed to undertake the implementation,” said Mokae.
The Guardian 