Community activists in mining areas in South Africa face harassment, intimidation and violence.
Municipalities often impose barriers to protest on organisers that have no legal basis. Government officials have failed to adequately investigate allegations of abuse, and some mining companies resort to frivolous lawsuits and social media campaigns to further curb opposition to their projects.
Researchers also wrote to the relevant government agencies and to many of the mining companies in the research areas. Four out of 11 companies responded. However many of the attacks go unreported or unnoticed, in part because of fear of retaliation for speaking out, and because police sometimes do not investigate the attacks, the groups found.
We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more: