Released: 18 March 2025, Limpopo, South Africa
A recent investigation has uncovered illegal strip-mining in the Vhembe Biosphere Reserve in Limpopo Province, South Africa linked to the controversial Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone (MMSEZ). The exposé revealed that MC Mining, whose Chinese-owned parent company, Kinetic Development, is an anchor investor in the MMSEZ, has unlawfully commenced mining operations at Makhado Colliery, despite a pending appeal decision against its environmental authorisation extension.
Reports confirm that large-scale vegetation clearance, soil stockpiling, and excavation for the Makhado Colliery began in late 2024 and is proceeding in breach of Section 24F of the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) at the site located in the Tshipise area of the Limpopo River Valley.
MC Mining holds the rights to develop 9 of 10 new open-cast coal mines licensed in the Greater Soutpansberg Coalfield on a pristine area of 107,000 hectares to supply coal to the MMSEZ steel manufacturing mega-project, posing a severe threat to one of South Africa’s most ecologically sensitive landscapes. MC Mining’s disregard for due process has raised serious governance concerns about the China-South Africa government-backed MMSEZ— and the risk of foreign investors being allowed to violate South Africa’s environmental protection standards in this Chinese operator-controlled, heavy industrial zone being developed under the China-South Africa Framework Agreement on Production Capacity Cooperation and China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
“MC Mining’s contempt for South Africa’s environmental safeguards cannot be ignored when Kinetic Development has openly declared in its application to develop the ferrochrome smelter that the ‘advantages’ of the MMSEZ for China include the opportunity to ‘Transfer China’s excess steel capacity and reduce China’s high energy-consuming pollution’,” says Lauren Liebenberg, Founder of Living Limpopo, a non-profit organisation that campaigns for a coal-free and sustainable future for the threatened Vhembe.
The UNESCO-designated Vhembe Biosphere is one of South Africa’s last great wilderness areas. “If strip-mining continues unchecked, this biodiversity hotspot and its unrivalled potential to sustain a biodiversity economy, will be lost forever to short-term coal profiteers,” adds Liebenberg.
In response to the threat, Living Limpopo, in partnership with Dear South Africa and Amandla Awethu.mobi, is calling on the public to sign an Open Letter addressed to the National Director of Public Prosecutions and the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment, demanding immediate action to halt all mining activities and hold MC Mining accountable for ongoing statutory violations.
The coal that lies beneath the baobabs
The Greater Soutpansberg Coalfield is of marginal viability and its exploitation is facing fierce resistance from local communities and industries such as farming and tourism, the conservation sector and environmentalists. Yet the Limpopo provincial government and the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources (DMPR) are determined to push ahead with their plan to extract what fraction of its estimated 10 billion tons of hard coking and thermal coal resources are recoverable by turning the biosphere into another ‘Sacrifice Zone’ for steel – in defiance of South Africa’s climate, biodiversity and sustainable development commitments.
Over 136,000 hectares of indigenous vegetation in the Vhembe Biosphere Reserve, much of which is classified as Critical Biodiversity Areas, are at risk of being stripped and replaced with 10 new open-cast coal mines, multiple industrial developments in the 60 Km2 MMSEZ and the Musina Dam complex on the Limpopo River. An unknown quantity of land will also be razed for solar power generation plants to greenwash the fossil-fuel driven smelter project.
“The destruction of ancient Baobabs and other protected trees across the wild Vhembe landscape speaks to the tragedy that is unfolding,” says Liebenberg. “The loss and damage that the MMSEZ and expansion of coal mining will cause to people, wildlife and our rich natural capital endowment is incalculable.”
The Vhembe Biosphere Reserve is of great biodiversity and cultural significance, boasting two national parks, an extensive protected areas network and the Mapungubwe UNESCO World Heritage Site and Cultural Landscape. It is a rich biodiversity reservoir and natural carbon sink, with three distinct biomes (Savannah, Grassland, and Forest) and 23 unique vegetation types, eight of which are endemic and found nowhere else in the world. The Blouberg and Soutpansberg mountain ranges, Makuleke Wetlands and the Limpopo River Valley further enrich this extraordinarily diverse environment.
Beyond its natural beauty, the Vhembe Biosphere Reserve is deeply rooted in Venda culture and history, with sacred sites such as Lake Fundudzi, Thathe Vondo Forest and the Dzhata Archaeological Ruins. It is a place where nature and spiritual practices are deeply bound and centuries-old traditions are kept alive through rituals, storytelling, dance, and song.
As part of the Greater Mapungubwe and Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Areas, which spans South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Botswana, the Vhembe Biosphere Reserve plays a crucial role in international conservation efforts.
Sign the Open Letter Here: https://livinglimpopo.org/stop-the-illegal-strip-mining-of-the-vhembe
Watch part of the Carte Blanche Exposé here: https://youtu.be/CW_CanP31Mk?si=a785TPZSE3kJuRwl
Supporting evidence and additional resources can be obtained here
Graphics can be accessed here
Images can be accessed here
For media inquiries, please contact:
Leanne McCann
Living Limpopo Media Liaison
leanne@livinglimpopo.org
