The compulsion of environmental and mining laws in South Arica : tools to curb illegal mining in South Africa

Abstract

Illegal mining, often called illicit mining, is an activity that involves the process of expropriating minerals from the environment, in a manner that does not comply with the law. And in South Africa, that is termed ‘zama-zama’. It has in the past years escalated in such a way that the President had to deploy the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), indicating that this is no ordinary crime, but a crime that affects the economy, people’s lives, and livelihoods. It does however extend deeper in that illegal mining is connected to other crimes such as gang crimes, rape, and murder. These will be discussed in this research and indicate real life reported cases of such crimes in the illegal mining sphere. This study will further investigate the three categories of persons who are potentially the main causes or facilitators of illegal mining, and further provide how they facilitate or cause illegal mining. The study will further examine how the existing mining and environmental laws, such as inter alia, the Mineral & Petroleum Resources Development Act & National Environmental Management Act may be compelled by the judiciary to ensure that these laws are complied with in order to curb illegal mining in South Africa. In conclusion, this research will seek to propose what it believes to be applicable and practical recommendations in this regard. In order to properly report on the findings of this research, real life illegal mining activities and related matters thereto, this research will give a study on the mines community of Burgersfort, which is an area in the northern part of South Africa, in the Limpopo province. This area is predominantly occupied by mines and has been under tremendous reported illicit activities and attacks