‘State organs watch as mine security terrorise rural community’ 24 January 2021

It is terrible to imagine that the mechanisms we rely on to enforce the compliance of court orders and general measures of lawfulness are so ineffectual. When the police sit down, fold their arms and watch while private security thugs harass and threaten the lives of community members this sorely points to something very dysfunctional in our society. The unfortunate truth is that this is not something the community of Mononono, in the North West, has to imagine. This is their lived reality and struggle. On countless occasions, the Mononono community has been forced to approach the courts in an ongoing battle against Ikwezi Vandadium (Pty) Ltd.

…The Mononono community has been organizing and protesting against these gross violations of their rights to justice. Their peaceful protest actions have been met by warped and brute force of a National Strike Intervention Unit (NSIU) that acts as Ikwezi Vanadium’s private security. Security guards from the National Strike Intervention Unit have continued using brute force against community members despite court orders. The NSIU has unjustifiably and sanctimoniously proceeded to rain hellfire against protesting community members, wounding 15 community members and two police officers in December 2020…Peaceful protests by residents of Mononono village in North West province have been met with gunfire by the National Strike Intervention Unit. The events happening in Mononono are reminiscent of 2012 when lethal force was used by security forces to cull the legitimate concerns of workers in Marikana. On 8 January 2021, Ikwezi Vanadium returned to the farm to resume operations after having being removed in December by a sheriff of the court.

…The extent to which the police service has failed to vindicate the legitimate rights of the community in Mononono is simply odious. The police are not only failing in their duty to serve and protect but are deliberately defeating the ends of justice, arresting five of the private security personnel and releasing them on the same day while failing to open cases for countless other injured community members, one of whom is currently in a coma, is questionable. The pitiful response from the Mogwase police station commander is that community members “cannot expect the police to stop the legal process and engage themselves in issues that are not on their mandate” all the while the community continue to be terrorized by rubber bullets, tearing into their bodies, mouths and genitals without reprieve.