R2K writes to Minister Shabangu after journalists locked out of mining meeting

R2K faxed the following message to the Regional Manager of the Limpopo Department of Mineral Resources, Mr Aaron Kharivhe, and copied in the Minister of Mineral Resources, Susan Shabangu, after journalists from City Press and Beeld were locked out of a mining oversight meeting in Polokwane.

It has come to our attention that officials representing a Regional Mining Development And Environmental Committee (RMDEC) in Polokwane have blocked two journalists from entering today’s meeting, and instructed security personnel to deny them access to the Department of Mineral Rights office in Limpopo.

This is the second time these journalists have been blocked from entering this RMDEC meeting (the first incident was 15 March 2012).

As a coalition of organisations fighting for transparency and the free flow of information, we demand that the Regional Manager take action to admit anyone seeking access to the RMDEC meeting, and take steps to ensure that there is no further attempts to bar the public from attending these meetings. Failing that, we urge the Minister to intervene immediately.

We note that there is no mechanism in the RMDEC’s regulations to justify blocking public access to the meetings; that the RMDEC meetings usually occur behind closed doors is a symptom of much deeper problems with transparency in the mining sector.

As the RMDEC’s primary function is to inform the Minister’s decisions, it is extremely problematic that the meetings would ever be closed to the public, not least of all when the matters relate to environmental justice for communities.

Feel free to contact the Regional Manager, Mr Aaron Kharivhe via email, asking him to ensure his department won’t block members of the public, including journalists, from oversight meetings which are meant to be public in any case.