‘We need the mines to stop making decisions about our land without us,” said Christina Mdau on Wednesday during the first day of a land conference onThe three-day hybrid conference — both online and in person — is being held at several venues across South Africa.
Mdau said that graves excavated by the mining company had been moved to Marikana West over a wetland, resulting in the graves sinking. “Pregnant women are losing babies or have babies but they pass on before the age of two because of the nitrate in our water,” Mdau said as she showed a video of dark brown water with white foam floating on top. “This is the water we drink, it’s always like this,” Mdau explained.
“They just came house to … house to tell us to evacuate to the community hall because they will be doing a big blast that day [11 March 2022]. We refused. We all came out, the security came and saw us resisting so they went back and came back in full gear with shields and all. They assaulted us. They hit my husband over his head so badly. They hit my chest… when I’m just sitting I still feel the pain,” said Mdau.