How on earth does one get the Vhembe Biosphere Reserve internationally declared as a biosphere and, at the same time, allow a coal mine to be established there?

That is just one question coming to the fore while the Australian mining group Coal of Africa (CoAL) is undertaking major earthworks and constructing roads in preparation for a coal mine a few kilometres from the Mapungubwe World Heritage site, which forms one of the core zones of the Vhembe Biosphere Reserve (VBR).

The VBR is recognized internationally for its wildlife and its unique biological and cultural diversity. The size of the VBR is approximately 30 701km2.

One Department, namely that of Water and Environmental Affairs, has the accomplishment that the third biosphere in the Limpopo, and the sixth in South Africa, had been internationally registered, while another Department, that of Mineral Resources, granted mining rights in the very same biosphere.

“The two departments should get over their egos and start to agree,” the DA shadow minister of Water and Envrionmental Affairs, Mr Gareth Morgan, said to this paper.

In a media statement by Morgan on July 1, he states that the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs strongly opposed this mining right at Mapungubwe, “but according to legislation as it stands, she (Minister Buyelwa Sonjica) has no power to stop the right being granted, as mining authorisations are the competence of the Minister of Mineral Resources.”

The DA insists on increased co-operative governance initiatives between these two departments.

“The Department of Mineral Resources has a record of granting a significant number of mining rights in areas that cannot handle the impacts of mining, most notably on water resources … Currently there are 125 mines operating without water licences, which is a contravention of the National Water Act,” said Morgan.

Thus Coal of Africa is not the only mining group starting procedures without their water licence. CoAL announced in the beginning of February that they had been awarded a new order mining right to set up an opencast coal mine, the Vele Colliery. The mining right had been granted by the Minister of Mineral Resources, Ms Susan Shabangu.The issue is still that their mining operations are located in a sensitive biosphere, including being in close proximity not only to the Mapungubwe World Heritage Site but also to the Mapungubwe Transfrontier Park. This park involves not only the Limpopo and South-Africa, but also the countries of Zimbabwe and Botswana.

Meanwhile, Environment Management Inspectorate (EMI) officials visited the mining site in this sensitive area.

Sonjica answered a parliamentary question of Morgan´s whether the EMI’s (Green Scorpions) uncovered any non-compliance.

“The Department is of the view that a number of activities associated with the mine have commenced in the absence of the relevant environmental authorisations. As we are still in the middle of the administrative enforcement process, the details cannot be provided at this stage, particularly as the mine has been given an opportunity to provide arguments as to why the activities may not be illegal,” reads the Minister’s answer of June 4.

Apparently there was no authorization for CoAL to commence with the building of roads to the proposed mining site.

Morgan said that the Minister of Mineral Resources and the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs apparently met in the last week of June to begin drafting a definition of what a “sensitive area” with regards to mining activities is.

“The sensitive Vhembe Biosphere Reserve is unique in its biodiversity and is of national and international importance,” said Ms Annemie de Klerk of the provincial environmental department.

“They have not taken the biosphere into account,” said a concerned landowner, Mr John Rosmarin of Lesheba Wilderness. Rosmarin had been involved as a local stakeholder in helping to initiate the process of getting the biosphere recognised. UNESCO formally approved the VBR in June 2009.

After the formal approval, Rosmarin wrote in August 2009 in his comments on the Coal of Africa project that DEAT (Department of Environmental Affairs) had formulated a policy on the preservation of selected areas of bio-diversity in South Africa, and that the Soutpansberg (Vhembe) was included as one of the nine priority bio-regions in the country. This area has also been indicated as a future “Protected Area”.