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Contribution short abstract

The paper explores the case of Amadiba Crisis Committee in Xolobeni, South Africa who successfully won the right to say no to mining in their territory. However the struggle continues and opens up for exploration of how development is violence when the right to self-determination is taken away.

Contribution long abstract

The paper explores the case of Amadiba Crisis Committee in Xolobeni, South Africa who successfully won the right to say no to mining in their territory. However the struggle continues and opens up for exploration of how development is violence when the right to self-determination is taken away. In 2007, Mineral Commodities Limited’s South African subsidiary Transworld Energy and Minerals Resources submitted a mining rights application to mine in Xolobeni. It described the Xolobeni Project as "one of the largest undeveloped mineral sands resources in the world". The area was projected to contain more than 9,000,000 tonnes of ilmenite, titanium-iron oxide mineral, as well as rutile, zircon and leucoxene. That year, the Amadiba Crisis Committee was formed by local people to contest the mining project. The case has received global attention as the community fought the mining company as well as the Department of Minerals and Energy. On 22 November 2018, Judge Annali Basson of the Pretoria High Court ruled that people would have the right to decide what happens on their land. This legal precedent has been important for the struggle against extractivism in South Africa. In this paper, I look at the Right to Say no in Xolobeni but move beyond to understand how this right is constantly being challenged materially and discursively by the government and private corporations. At the same time, the tactics and strategies of the ACC will be presented including their articulation of an anti-capitalist alternative for development of the area.