Middelburg — A local forum colloquially named the Steve Tshwete Community is accusing mining company Liberty Coal of taking decisions without involving them as host communities. They say Liberty Coal has dissolved a stakeholder engagement forum without consultation.
The allegations come from a memorandum submitted to Liberty Coal during a community march held on 13 January 2026, in Pullenshope, Hendrina.
The forum is composed of different community structures representing the interests of their members in matters of employment, business and skills development.
“On the 10th of December 2025 we were invited to a meeting which was convened by yourselves (Liberty Coal). In this meeting you informed us that you have taken a decision to dissolve the Stakeholder Engagement Forum which was properly constituted and approved by you as a company,” reads the memorandum. “This was not done constitutionally and without consultation with the structure which is illegal and a deep sense of concern. The structure was put in place for the reasons which obligate mines to provide structured community consultation and SLP reporting.”
Highveld Chronicle asked Liberty Coal to comment on the allegation of dissolving the community forum without consultation, but it did not respond, instead it said the memorandum is full of “baseless allegations”.
CEO Hlayiseka Chauke said that the mine does not believe the alleged concerns raised are “genuine concerns raised by genuine parties”.
He added that the concerns appear to be part of a wider unlawful strategy to cause Liberty reputational harm and/or interfere with its operations. “Liberty Coal’s legal advisors have already written to the relevant parties to place these concerns on record,” he said.
In addition to the dissolution of the forum, the memorandum also highlighted that Liberty Coal unilaterally decided to appoint a new mining contractor, Liberty Mine Services (LMS), without consulting and informing the forum. It further alleged a lack of clarity about a 5% share to communities held in a trust and demanded immediate release of equipment belonging to community companies, among other grievances.
Regarding the appointment of LMS, Chauke said that an on-boarding of about 540 employees has been finalised.
“They have agreed to be taken over from the previous contractor and its associates pursuant to section 197 of the Labour Relations Act. LMS will now be embarking on a progressive employment drive over the course of 2026 in line with the Liberty Coal’s planned expansion into dragline and underground operations. This is expected to result in circa 500 new employment opportunities being created at the mine,” he said.
Gugu Mahlangu, community member also representing the Hope For Women structure, said, “As communities who are impacted by mining, we are an important stakeholder in the mine and we should be involved in the decision making process at forum level. We will not stop fighting until the stakeholder forum is given the recognition it deserves.”
Chauke said that Liberty Coal welcomes robust engagements with the local community but reminds community members that it is a private company acting in the best interests of its shareholders, including its employees and the local communities.
“Liberty Coal does not need permission to change its mining contractor, nor will Liberty Coal allow the community to be weaponised by disgruntled parties,” he said.
