Thrown on the slag heap

South Africa's human rights record has been tarnished by rogue mining operations - which could affect the country's upcoming UN human rights assessment, civil society organisations have warned.

Acid water, dust, air pollution, destruction of arable land and intimidation of environmental activists are just some of the concerns raised in two damning reports released this week, one of them a submission to the UN Human Rights Council.

The UNHRC is gearing up for its universal period review, held every four-and-a-half years, which produces human rights outcomes reports for all UN member states.

THE HILLS ARE ALIVE: Children play outside their homes in Riverlea in the west of Johannesburg, in the shadow of a dump

The organisation is likely to take a dim view of alleged environ-mental rights infringements taking place across much of South Africa.

One of the reports claims constitutionally enshrined rights to a healthy environment are increasingly ignored by government departments.

"The South African government is not enforcing the relevant environmental standards, and allows excessive pollution to continue," the report says.

"The government has also allowed the mining industry to be one of the least transparent industries in South Africa."

The submission coincides with a second equally damning report, also released yesterday, by the Harvard Law School International Human Rights Clinic.

SLOW POISON: Water tainted fluorescent blue by heavy metals and chemicals leaches from a tailings pile near Soweto

This report claims South Africa has "failed to meet its human rights obligations to address the environmental and health effects of gold mining in Johannesburg."

"Acid mine drainage has contaminated water bodies that residents use to irrigate crops, water livestock, wash clothes, and swim," Harvard said.

"Dust from mine waste dumps has blanketed communities. The government has allowed homes to be built near and sometimes on toxic and radioactive dumps.

"South Africa has not fully complied with constitutional or international law. The government has not only inadequately mitigated the harm from abandoned and active mines, but it has also offered scant warnings of the risks, performed few scientific studies about the health effects, and rarely engaged with residents on mining matters," Harvard said.

LAST BLAST: A miner uses a high-pressure water cannon at the tail end of Sibanye Gold's Cooke Operations' life

Bonnie Docherty, senior clinical instructor at UNHRC and the report's lead author, said South Africa was failing to fulfil human rights commitments made when apartheid ended.

"The government should act immediately to address the on-going threats from gold mining, and it should develop a more complete solution to prevent future harm," Docherty said.

Centre for Applied Legal Studies attorney Louis Snyman said the government appeared to be hamstrung by a shortage of resources to ensure effective monitoring and compliance. Commenting on the reports he said rights infringements appeared to be escalating.

"It has always been bad, but we have seen an escalation," Snyman said, adding that communities were increasingly fighting back against mining companies.

"Communities are sick and tired of the impacts, and they are sick and tired of the promises to mitigate environmental impacts and bring socioeconomic development. What we are seeing is a big push back," he said.

But Snyman said legal challenges would not resolve the underlying problem of dysfunctional management.

"We can't rush to court on every single instance of non-compliance that happens - that is completely unsustainable.

"What we can do is fight for a regulator that actually does its job and has the skills and resources to handle this," he said.