Save Serve & Protect Newcastle

09/09/2026

WHAT DOES 300+ HOURS LOOK LIKE?

📄 Reading hundreds of pages of technical documentation.

🔬 Understanding specialist environmental studies.

💧 Assessing potential impacts on water resources.

⚖️ Researching legislation, regulations and legal requirements.

👥 Engaging communities and affected stakeholders.

🔎 Checking claims against available evidence.

✍🏾 Preparing a properly researched response.

And that's before considering the time required for meetings, follow-up questions, additional research and monitoring.

A meaningful public response takes meaningful work.

When decisions could affect strategic water resources and the communities that depend on them, we believe that work is worth doing properly.

But it takes capacity.

Help SSPN raise R1 million to strengthen our ability to do this work.

Because protecting water requires more than raising an objection. It requires evidence.

08/09/2026

07/09/2026

Introducing our Secretary: Luyanda Nkosi

I am a dedicated young woman and student, currently focused on my academic growth and personal development. I have taken on leadership roles in school and youth programs, which has taught me responsibility, discipline, and how to work well with others. I stepped into leadership because I believe in being prepared and leading by example.

I am currently completing my schooling, where I strive for excellence in all I do. My education has taught me the values of Responsibility, Respect, Honesty, and Preparedness — values I live by every day. I have also completed youth leadership and life skills training.

What drives me is my faith, my family, and my desire to become a better version of myself. I was raised to believe that hard work, respect, and honesty open doors. My personal verse, John 14:15 — "If you love me, keep my commandments" — reminds me to live with integrity.

I am proud of my commitment to self-discipline and growth. I have been recognized for my neatness, respectfulness, and dedication in school. My recent milestone of being well-prepared and focused in all my duties is an achievement I hold dearly.

I bring strong communication skills, a positive attitude, respect for others, and a trustworthy spirit. I am organized, always prepared, and good at encouraging and supporting those around me.

In the next few years, I see myself growing academically, becoming a strong, independent woman who inspires other young girls. I want to further my studies, build my career, and remain a woman of values and faith.

I enjoy engaging with my community by helping others, participating in youth programs, and being a good example to younger learners. I believe community is important because we grow stronger when we support one another.

Outside of school, I love singing, reading, spending time with family and friends, and reflecting on life. I love music, especially inspirational hymns, and I enjoy moments that bring peace..

06/09/2026

WATER SECURITY IS A HUMAN RIGHT.

Water is not an isolated resource. It is the thread that connects our food, our local economies, our health, and our fundamental human rights.

When we protect the source—from the headwaters in Northern KZN to the rivers sustaining our towns—we secure the entire system. Save, Serve and Protect Newcastle (SSPN) stands for responsible, evidence-led development that ensures no community is left behind.

PROTECT THE SOURCE.

• Protect our rivers.

• Protect our water.

• Protect our food.

• Protect our communities.

• Protect our future.

WATER SECURITY IS LIFE

Stand with us.

05/09/2026

Introducing our Organiser: Xolile Thwala

Xolile Thwala is an Organiser with Save Serve Protect Newcastle and a fearless Environmental and Human Rights Defender based in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal. Deeply rooted in community struggles, Xolile has dedicated his work to defending frontline populations affected by coal mining and extractive industries.

As an organiser, Xolile mobilises, educates, and supports local communities to understand and assert their constitutional, environmental, and water rights. His advocacy focuses on environmental justice, safeguarding water sources, securing the proper rehabilitation of mined land, and protecting frontline human rights defenders.

Xolile works directly alongside community structures to challenge environmental injustices and demand full compliance with South Africa's mining, water, and environmental laws. Grounded in the principle that true justice requires putting people and the environment before profit, he remains a dedicated voice for systemic change.

Core Impact Areas:

Community Mobilisation & Education: Empowering local residents to understand and claim their environmental, water, and constitutional rights.

Extractive Accountability: Challenging harmful coal mining practices and advocating for full compliance with national environmental and water laws.

Resource Rights & Rehabilitation: Protecting critical water sources and pushing for the complete, proper rehabilitation of mined lands.

Defender Rights & Solidarity: Supporting and protecting grassroots activists and community structures fighting on the frontlines of environmental degradation.

05/09/2026

WHAT ARE WE PROTECTING?

Clean water.

Food production.

Healthy communities.

Sustainable businesses.

Young people's futures.

A South Africa where development and environmental protection work together.

04/09/2026

Introducing our Director and Treasurer: Kush Singh

Kush Singh is a human rights advocate and community strategist dedicated to empowering grassroots populations to defend their rights and build self-determined futures. Grounded in an MBA specialising in Ethical Leadership and Institutional Integrity alongside a background in environmental science, she blends human rights advocacy, climate justice, and systems thinking to challenge systemic inequality and hold decision-makers accountable.

Kush works closely with communities to navigate complex environmental risks and legal frameworks—translating local priorities and critical evidence into actionable advocacy, transparent governance structures, and sustainable development plans. Her work centres on safeguarding natural resources, elevating community voices in policy decisions, and building resilient, ethical institutions that deliver lasting social and environmental justice.

Core Focus Areas:

Human Rights & Community Advocacy: Translating grassroots priorities into strategic action to protect social, environmental, and economic rights.

Environmental & Climate Justice: Combining scientific rigour with strategic policy analysis to defend resource sovereignty and combat environmental degradation.

Ethical Governance & Accountability: Designing transparent, integrity-driven frameworks that centre community oversight and institutional fairness.

Evidence-Based Strategy: Transforming complex research, risk assessments, and environmental impact data into practical, community-first solutions.

03/09/2026

ONE APPLICATION. 300+ HOURS.

When a mine has the potential to affect water, land, communities and livelihoods, responding properly requires more than reading a few pages.

A complex Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) or Water Use Licence Application (WULA) can require 300+ hours of detailed work.

That means reading technical reports, examining specialist studies, researching legislation, understanding potential impacts, consulting affected communities and developing evidence-based responses.

For a community organisation, those hours represent an enormous commitment of time, expertise and resources.

Mines have consultants. Communities need capacity too.

Your support helps SSPN build the capacity to understand complex applications, participate meaningfully and protect the public interest.

Help us raise R1 million.

Protect the source. Protect the future.

02/09/2026

HELP US RAISE R1 MILLION.

R1,000,000

To strengthen SSPN's capacity to protect strategic water resources, food security, communities and fundamental human rights.

DONATE. SHARE. STAND WITH US.

01/09/2026

Introducing our Director and Deputy Chairperson: Faith Ngwenya

Faith Simphiwe Ngwenya is a committed Environmental and Water Activist from Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal, affiliated with SSPN

With a strong grassroots presence, Faith stands at the forefront of community advocacy against the negative impacts of mining on land and water. Her activism centres on three pillars: ensuring proper rehabilitation of mined areas, demanding transparency and compliance in Water Use Licence processes, and defending the constitutional right of communities to clean water and a healthy environment.

Working with SSPN, she bridges the gap between communities, mining companies like Galdinia Colliery, and regulators such as the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) and Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE). She is known for her fearless, community-first approach and her dedication to ensuring that no community is left voiceless in environmental decision-making.

Faith believes that protecting water is protecting life.