Plea for Clean Water

Without clean water, there is no dignity. And that’s why for Janet Love the acid mine drainage (AMD) crisis on the Witwatersrand’s goldfields centres on the preservation of human rights.

‘We have to change the way we think about water’

“Among the many things that I learnt as president was the centrality of water in the social, political and economic affairs of the country, the continent and the world.” These words were spoken by former president Nelson Mandela at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, 2002. Despite its importance to development, human health, […]

To decant, or not to decant? That is the question

Concerns that Johannesburg and the Cradle of Humankind will soon be flooded with acid mine drainage (AMD) have been central to discussions on polluted mine water for months, with the public being worked up into a frenzy about the CBD sinking and South Africa’s heritage being wiped out. While a media storm has been created […]

Rising water, rising fear: SA’s mining legacy

Environmental activist Mariette Liefferink’s four-inch crimson heels still sport their Woolworths sticker as they puncture the sulphuric crust lining Robinson Lake, situated in the Western Basin of the Witwatersrand. The water is quiet, smells slightly of vinegar and laps gently against a shore devoid of any life save for a few, lone reeds. Behind the […]

Tweelopiespruit Catchment Area – the evidence in pictures

The current lime treatment of the uncontrolled AMD has resulted in the deposition of sludge in the first receptor dam within the Tweelopiespruit, part of the Crocodile River System and Limpopo Catchment.  This dam, the Hippo Dam, is outside mine property, located within the Krugersdorp Game Reserve.  The sludge contains toxic and radioactive heavy metals.

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