A final court order has been granted to the McGregor Museum in the Northern Cape High Court in April this year, preventing unlawful mining operations on the national heritage site – Canteen Kopje – a historical and archaeological key point at Barkly West, in the Northern Cape.
Law firm, Norton Rose Fulbright, acted for the Museum on a pro bono basis. The University of the Witwatersrand provided support and advice to the legal team and the McGregor Museum as Canteen Kopje has been a vitally important excavation area for archaeologists from the University’s School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies.
A second legal process is now underway where the Museum as well as Wits and Sol Plaatje Universities are requesting a review of the decisions made by the Department of Mineral Resources to grant a mining permit over a heritage site.
