Residents of Hondeklipbaai, a small community in coastal northwest South Africa, has lodged a land claim against the world’s largest diamond mining company, Anglo-De Beers.
The community is angered that the company has reneged on its promise to adequately rehabilitate its mined-out area, and plans to sell the lease to a much smaller diamond outfit, Trans Hex.
Recalling that De Beers has exploited his peoples’ territory for around 80 years, community leader Dawid Markus declared: “We are still living in dire poverty. De Beers says ‘a diamond is for ever’. The reality here is that our suffering is for ever”.
See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/11263.