From a Dump for Farmers to a Dump for Mining Corporations

Story based on interview with Marcus Mputle 2008.

There are no signboards that show the name of our village. To get to us you must get to Kroondal and take left at this sign. We are a community without a name and are only referred to as a mining squatter camp. But you wont miss us. At the entrance to our village you will find our traditional church. When our parents first settled here 50 years ago they gave ourselves a name: Mabeleng

Many of us were born here in this area . My parents moved here from Luka not very far away in Rustenburg. I am now 33.
This place in the days of Apartheid was where white farmers and local businesses stored their black labour, because they did not want them living next door to them in Kroondal the little town close by.
I attended the farm school set up by the Germans until primary level. There was no high school. The Germans said that primary school was sufficient for us to be able to communicate well so they did not build a high school. I had to travel very far past Bleskop to attend high school. All this was in the apartheid days. But after 10 years of democracy there is still no high school in our community.)
In 1995 the mines started to expand into our area. The mines did not build houses for their workers. They gave them a a ”living out allowance” but there where no houses to rent. So the mine workers built shacks in our area. Many workers only get casual work in the mines. They too find rooms in our area. So very quickly our village grew very large and overcrowded.
Today we call ourselves Ikemeleng. People from all over our province the North West Province , from the rest of south Africa as well as other countries began to settle here. Many of them have now been here for over ten years

We have many problems in our area . There is no permanent water supply. Twice a week a water truck contracted by the Kroondal Municipality fill these tanks with water. If you are not around when the tank is filled, then you don’t get water. Many families are forced to buy water from private sellers. These sellers bring the water from Mfedikwe in Blesskop, a neighbouring village. If you don’t have money then you are forced to use the water from the river. The majority of the families use the river to wash their clothes. People know that this water is dangerous but they say that they have no alternative, so they continue to use the water from the river. A lot of sickness comes from this river especially among school children who play in the river on hot days. The river has Bilharzia.

There is no rubbish removal in our community. So you will find piles of dirt all over. There is no drainage system to take away water that people use at home for washing dishes, cleaning and bathing, so we have little pools of standing water all over.
There is no sewage system. Some families have chemical toilets. Some have built pit toilets. Many who rent rooms in other peoples yards are not allowed to use the family toilet. They are forced to use the bushes near the river. When you walk to the river you have to be very careful.
We have many health problems. There is a mobile clinic which comes twice a week. Mothers with babies and old people have to stand outside in the sun for long hours before they get attention. When there is rain there is nowhere to shelter.
There are two grave yards in our community. People die quite regularly. But nobody looks after the graveyards. There is also a family graveyard. This family has been here a long time. A road was built next to the graveyard. But the family refused to move their graveyard. So the graveyard stands on the side of the road. There was a very old graveyard here. But the mine needed this ground for an open cast mine. They moved the graves to Boitokong about 10 km away. They said that most of the people buried came from there. There was no discussion with us. We don’t know who they consulted. Maybe the councillor. My father’s brother was buried here.





A crèche for children has been set up by a member of the community. However, most people cannot afford to send their children here. So when parents are not around the children are left with neighbours or they entertain themselves.
There are shops and other services. But we pay higher prices for all the goods we buy then if we bought it at the Spar in Kroondal. But to get to Kroondal we have to pay taxi fare or we have to walk a long distance with our groceries.
We are surrounded by mines. There is always dust from mine dumps. People don’t know if these blasts and dust and smells affect them. They don’t care. Their day to day life in Ikemeleng is so hard they don’t think about mine problems. There is so much unemployment. People will be happy to get jobs in the mines regardless of their health problems.
Our young people are passionate about soccer as young people are all over Africa all over the world. We have two soccer teams. Our problem is that there is no league. SAFA never comes to villages like ours. We also have a problem with our football pitch. it is used as a road for cars and has pathways created by people walking through. There is no fence and our goal posts were stolen for firewood. But our teams are very well disciplined. We train every Tuesday and Thursday. We organise our own challenges with teams from other villages. This is usually for money between R200 – R400 prize money. We do win sometimes. We use the money to pay our taxi costs and keep the remainder for the team. Sometimes we have a braai with our prize money.
We asked the councillor why the municipality would not fix up our ground. They told us that our area was not licensed. We don’t know what that means. But it is so easy. The mine simply has to come with a caterpillar and level out the ground , bring in a few trucks of sand. The mines have a lot of money, but nothing really comes to the people. What we cannot understand is that they say that this is an informal area. How long must an informal area live before it grows into a formal area? Some of us have lived here for about 30 years. Many have been here for 10 years They say that this area has not been proclaimed. It has no licence, so they can’t develop it.
People don’t trust the councillors. They say that that the ward counsel is always a place where people fight for positions. The councillor makes promises and never delivers. The political parties only come here during elections time for our vote. During elections we are not informal or formal.
But we are people we go on with our lives as best as we could. We are organising the young people around soccer. We are talking to the mayor and the councillors all the time. We are confronting the mines to give our people jobs. We are slowly building our community.