The Makana Mining Forum held a meeting last week at Tantyi Community Hall with co-operatives interested in the small-scale mining of kaolin.
The Makana Mining Forum held a meeting last week at Tantyi Community Hall with co-operatives interested in the small-scale mining of kaolin.
Forum chairperson Makwenkwe Kuselo said the purpose of Wednesday's meeting was to report back to the co-operatives who are going to be involved in the beneficiary process. “We need to roll out training programmes to enable the locals to have skills in the mining industry, we need to do a skills audit as we'll expose them to mining,” explained Kuselo.
The forum's secretary, Lizo Zake, told those who attended the meeting that they should have business plans, action plans and certificates of registration. “The Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC) is willing to support us financially," explained Zake.
"This money will be divided among the co-operatives, however, the co-operatives will not do as they please with the funds; some conditions will be set up by the funders.”
The deadline for the submission of action plans and registration certificates for the co-operatives is 9 November. He added that each co-operative should have a certificate of registration before it can access funding.
Zake said that there are currently ten co-operatives but only eight are registered, as the other two are still in the process of registration. Kuselo urged members of the co-operatives to claim the project.
“This is your project, you must grab this opportunity to make a future for yourselves,” he said. The forum was established in September 2009 when different local groups expressed an interest in mining the local kaolin.
"We approached the directorate of Local Economic Development (LED) in Makana Municipality and we discussed issues around this commodity," explained Kuselo. "We indicated to them that we are interested in setting up a beneficiating plant in Makana area in order for the locals to benefit from this local commodity.”
He said that LED asked them to organise themselves by setting up a forum that was going to be the voice of the locals which will negotiate with other stakeholders. “Currently we are engaging the project manager to link us up with other government departments such as the Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Labour, and the Eastern Cape Socio Economic Consultative Council (ECSECC), to support this mining initiative,” said Kuselo.
He said their plan is to set up an 'incubator' in the Makana area where locals who are members of the co-operatives will be taught skills. “Our intention is to set up economic development for locals in order for them to sustain themselves as there is a high rate of unemployment in Grahamstown,” he said.
He urged the Makana officials to support the project. “We expect cooperation between us and them,” he concluded.
