# summary

- Link: https://dearsouthafrica.co.za/livinglimpopo/summary/
- Published: 2025-03-16T12:57:11+02:00
- Author: dearSA

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[The Musina / Makhado SEZ](https://dearsouthafrica.co.za/livinglimpopo/summary/#1738150189952-44103674-e29d2c87-6aac)

**The Musina/Makhado Special Economic Zone** comprises two geographical locations
that address unique industrial clusters. The site in Musina targets the light industrial
and agro-processing clusters, while the Makhado site is a metallurgical/mineral 
beneficiation complex. A third site has been identified to target the petrochemical
industries.

The SEZ is strategically located along the N1 North-South route into the Southern
African Development Community (SADC), very close to the border between South Africa
and Zimbabwe. It forms part of the Trans-Limpopo Spatial Development Initiative (
SDI) and has been developed as part of greater regional plans to unlock investment
and economic growth and address the development of skills and employment. Newly 
built infrastructure enables full utilisation of the area’s unique combination of
mineral endowments and supports industries in the full-value chains for mineral 
beneficiation, agro-processing and light industrial manufacturing.

The strategic location of the SEZ and its close proximity to the main land-based
route into SADC and the African continent, together with supporting incentives and
a good logistics backbone, will make it the location of choice for investment in
the mineral beneficiation, agro-processing and petrochemical industries.

For more information visit [the MMSEZ website](https://mmsez.co.za/)

[Large-scale expansion of coal mining](https://dearsouthafrica.co.za/livinglimpopo/summary/#1738150189975-5d0623dc-47dc2c87-6aac)

![Dirty power generation](https://cdn.dearsouthafrica.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/
03/16131550/OpenPitCoalMine.jpg)

Metallurgy is energy-intensive. Indeed, steel is dubbed “congealed energy”. Given
South Africa’s severe constraints, a **dedicated** 3,300MW [coal-fired power plant](http://emsez.com/en/zsyz.php?id=57&lm=36&lm1=6)(
to be built by [PowerChina](http://emsez.com/en/about.php?id=39)) was originally
planned to supply the zone’s electricity needs.

However, in the wake of China’s 2021 pledge not to build any new coal-fired power
projects abroad, Fossil Free South Africa sought and received (somewhat oblique)
[confirmation](https://fossilfreesa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/FFSA-correspondence-China-MMSEZ.pdf)
from the Chinese Ambassador to South Africa that the MMSEZ power plant would not
go ahead.

The MMSEZ SOC has since publicly announced that solar PV generation and renewables
will replace the thermal electricity plant.

However, Environmental Authorisation was granted in February 2022 without any conditions
attached, and makes express reference to the EIA Report, Scoping Report and revised
site layout, which include the coal-fired power station. Moreover, the specialist
report on the power supply plans, which forms part of the EIAr, states plainly that
solar PV power generation is not viable and has been rejected as an option.

In July 2022 it was further announced that “green” [coal-to-hydrogen fuel for electricity generation](https://www.globalafricanetwork.com/company-news/mmsez-signs-a-ground-breaking-partnership-for-green-hydrogen-electricity-generation/)
was now a part of the power supply plans mix.

Note: Ignoring the contribution of the power supply completely, annual greenhouse
gas (GHG) emissions from the coal-fueled zone will still be in region of 33.7MtCO2e
with very serious consequences for South Africa.

[Damming of the Limpopo River](https://dearsouthafrica.co.za/livinglimpopo/summary/#1738150854013-bb98f5fb-7d092c87-6aac)

![building a mega-dam](https://cdn.dearsouthafrica.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/
03/16132117/water-supply.jpeg)

Coal is not just dirty, it’s thirsty, especially coking coal.

The hitch is that where the coking plant for the smelter is to be located, there
is no water.

Instead of changing the plan or changing the location, there is an unfeasible R13.8bn
plan to meet the 125Mm3 required annually for the zone’s operation (80Mn3 of which
is required by the metallurgical zone at the South Site) in the water-stressed region
by:

 1.  a. initially siphoning from groundwater sources, including from the Limpopo River’s
        alluvial aquifer, until-
     b. a planned mega-dam, the 1,000Mn3/a “Musina Dam” complex, is built close to the
        MMSEZ North Site, that will **capture up to 60% of the Limpopo’s annual flow**(
        according to the Pre-Feasibility Study conducted) to be stored “off-channel” at
        the Sand River mouth, from where it will be pumped uphill to the southern site
        over a distance of 50km, supplemented by-
     c.  a scheme known as the “Mutasshi Corridor” to pump 30Mm3/a from Zimbabwe’s Tokwe-
        Mukosi and Zhove dams.

See [research report](https://southafrica.fes.de/event/default-83e9fc33ed) commissioned
by the Friedrich Ebert Institute authored by Dr Victor Munnik.

[Biodiversity loss, pollution and environmental degradation](https://dearsouthafrica.co.za/livinglimpopo/summary/#1738151172108-10076802-4d002c87-6aac)

**The MM-SEZ is located in the Vhembe Biosphere Reserve,** which has been inscribed
by UNESCO in recognition of its outstanding biodiversity value.

Pollution from the noxious industrial zone and new coal mines that will supply it,
will inevitably lead to severe severe and irreversible environmental degradation,
biodiversity loss, damage to ecosystems and ecosystem services and destruction of
natural capital.

Quite apart from CO2 emissions, coal mining and coal combustion have other highly
negative environmental impacts: Sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and mercury emissions,
and the aftermath from sludge, slurry and fly ash ponds that contain a variety of
toxins, combine to poison the air, soil and water across a vast area beyond the 
sites of the mines and factories.

Places that play host to extensive coal mining and related heavy industry are among
the most polluted on earth.

[Water resource depletion and contamination](https://dearsouthafrica.co.za/livinglimpopo/summary/#1738151231288-dfdfde22-26f02c87-6aac)

The impact on water resources of the development of extensive coal mining as well
as the industrial zones of the MMSEZ in this water-scarce region will be catastrophic.

The plan to **supply the 125Mn m3/a water requirements of the SEZ from the Limpopo
River and its tributaries,** including the Mzingwane River in Zimbabwe, and from
local groundwater sources, threatens the resiliency of the entire Limpopo River 
basin river system, and all other water users who depend on its water resources.

The loss and contamination of ground and surface water resources in Limpopo’s stressed
catchments represents a threat to all other sectors, including farming, but it threatens
the very survival of vulnerable rural households and small-scale farmers who depend
on groundwater and run-of-river abstractions to meet their needs.

The Limpopo River basin is a transboundary water resource, and the threat this development
indisputably poses to the basic human right to water access for downstream water
users in Mozambique could translate into serious political risk as well.

[Collateral damage to other local industries](https://dearsouthafrica.co.za/livinglimpopo/summary/#1738151253752-ee477515-a6462c87-6aac)

The damage that the development of coal mining and coal-fueled heavy industry will
inflict on other industries, especially on farming and tourism and the emerging 
biodiversity economy, as a consequence of pollution and the contamination of air,
water and soil; the degradation of the wild character of the landscape and the loss
of wildlife and wildlife habitat is near incalculable.

The development of the MMSEZ and and the coal mines essentially comes at the expense
of all other sectors and will permanently destroy the carbon sink and biodiversity
reservoir and their potential to create jobs, SMME opportunities, and livelihoods
to benefit poor rural communities.

[ Have your say](https://dearsouthafrica.co.za/livinglimpopo/#havasay)

The Musina-Mahado Special Economic Zone is a large-scale industrial development 
that is the undergirding of an ambitious plan to industrialise the remote Vhembe
region of South Africa’s northern Limpopo Province based on the exploitation of 
its coal resources.

**Carte Blanche** It was pitched as a massive, heavy industrial project that would
bring jobs and economic growth to Limpopo. But with the development phase yet to
get off the ground, community members and environmentalists are raising the alarm.
They’re warning that the project threatens one of the most bio-diverse parts of 
our country, including thousands of hectares of indigenous trees. Not only that,
but millions have already been spent with apparently little to show for it.

**SABC** Developers of the Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone (MMSEZ) in Limpopo
plan to proceed with the removal of one thousand species of plants and trees on 
the land earmarked for industrialisation. Up to 3 500 hectares of land in the Vhembe
District will be developed for industries as part of the envisioned Special Economic
Zone (SEZ). Some environmental groups have raised concerns that this will result
in thousands of protected species of trees, including the Baobab, being destroyed.

**SABC** The Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone and the 10 new open-cast coal 
mines that will supply the industrial zone stand as a threat to a UNESCO-designated
biodiversity sanctuary. According to the organisation Living Limpopo, the special
economic zone has received licenses to destroy over 650 thousand protected trees,
including 10 000 indigenous baobab trees. Vhembe Biosphere Reserve Development Director
Lauren Liebenberg speaks to us on this matter.

SEZ Fact Sheet

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### In the News

    - Food for Mzansi — [Mining permits threaten Limpopo’s ecosystems and agriculture](https://www.foodformzansi.co.za/mining-permits-threaten-limpopos-ecosystems-and-agriculture/)
    - Capricorn FM — [DA calls for urgent investigation into Musina-Makhado SEZ](https://www.capricornfm.co.za/democratic-alliance-calls-for-urgent-investigation-into-musina-makhado-sez/)
    - Mail&Guardian —[ Coal mining threatens Vhembe Biosphere Reserve](https://mg.co.za/news/2024-11-18-coal-mining-threatens-vhembe-biosphere-reserve/)
    - Citizen — [Thousands of baobab trees to be bulldozed in Limpopo](https://www.citizen.co.za/review-online/news-headlines/local-news/2024/11/18/thousands-of-protected-trees-to-be-bulldozed/)
    - Daily Maverick — [Old King Coal’s relentless pursuit of a marginal economic zone in Limpopo](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2024-11-25-old-king-coals-relentless-pursuit-of-a-marginal-economic-zone-in-limpopo/)
    - Daily Maverick — [Thirsty, energy-hungry steel ‘monster’ set to destroy thousands of Limpopo protected trees in industrial drive](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-11-14-thirsty-energy-hungry-steel-monster-set-to-destroy-thousands-of-limpopo-protected-trees-in-industrial-drive/)

### STATEMENTS AND MEDIA RELEASES

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Want to display your organisation’s statement? [Click here. ](https://dearsouthafrica.co.za/livinglimpopo/summary/ livinglim@dearsouthafrica.co.za?subject=org info for Living Limpopo info page)

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### Freedom of Religion SA (FOR SA)

 TEMPLATE PROVIDED BY FOR SA

### I strongly oppose the Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill [B9B – 2018], which I believe to be unconstitutional and unnecessary, for the following reasons:

 1. The Bill violates our constitutional rights as religious persons to express our
    religious beliefs without fear of punishment or persecution (section 15, read with
    section 16). Increasingly, around the world but also in South Africa, various holy
    scriptures (particularly on contentious issues) are regarded as “politically incorrect”
    or “offensive”, allegedly causing emotional and/or social harm.
 2. I specifically oppose the Bill’s:
 3.  a. wide definition of “harm” (in Clause 1);
     b. the failure to define “hatred” (in Clause 1); and
     c. definition of, and creation of, the crime of “hate speech” (in Clause 4).
 4. The creation of the crime of “hate speech” for saying / distributing something 
    which could possibly be construed as “harmful”, will have certain unintended consequences,
    namely the criminalisation of good / well-meaning people who will be prosecuted
    for saying what they sincerely believe (according to their holy texts) and sent
    to jail.
 5. There are already sufficient existing laws dealing with “hate speech”.
 6. For all of the reasons given, I ask:
 7.  a. For the scrapping of the “hate speech” sections from the Bill altogether;
     b. Alternatively, should the “hate speech” provisions remain part of the Bill, we
        ask:
     c.  a. That “harm” be defined as: “gross emotional and psychological detriment that 
            objectively and severely undermines the human dignity of the targeted group”;
            and
         b. That “hatred” be defined as: “strong and deeply-felt emotions of enmity, ill-
            will, detestation, malevolence and vilification against members of an identifiable
            group, that implies that members of that group are to be despised, scorned, denied
            respect and subjected to ill-treatment based on their group affiliation”.
     d. That Clause 4(2)(d) (the “religious exemption clause”) be strengthened as follows
        to protect:
         _“expression of any religious conviction, tenet, belief, teaching,
        doctrine or writings, by a religious organisation or an individual, in public 
        or in private, to the extent that such expression does not actively support, instigate,
        exhort, or call for extreme detestation, vilification, enmity, ill-will and malevolence
        that constitutes incitement to cause gross emotional and psychological harm that
        severely undermines the dignity of the targeted group, based on race, ethnicity,
        gender, religion or sexual orientation”._