Opposition to the day-to-day impacts of coal mining, dispossessionand environmental deterioration, but not the prospect of working forTendele, was evident during the interviews with some communitymembers in Somkhele, yet it was not as obvious when compared to theMakause residents in Mpumalanga. What is it, then, that has builtstrong anti-coal sentiments in Somkhele? And what explains thestrong material dependence on coal that Jacklyn Cock observed in theMpumalanga province?1 An answer to both questions rests on theeconomic histories of both provinces. While Somkhele and Makause liein regions that are notable contributors to the country'sagricultural sector, Mpumalanga's heavy dependence on coal is rootedin its role as South Africa's primary coal-producing area, supplyingboth national and international markets. The province's economy andemployment are significantly tied to the coal industry, with a largeworkforce directly employed by the mines and power stations. In thisregard, over the years, the coal industry overtook agriculturalproduction, making mining a major source of employment, unlike inKwaZulu-Natal, where both commercial and subsistence farmingremained dominant at least in some parts of the province. Without adoubt, access to land by communities in Somkhele – and those thatlive on customary land, broadly speaking – not only lessens theimpact of poverty and unemployment; the land, arguably, alsocushions communities when they resist exploitative forms of wagework provided by extractive industries. I also observed that accessto land enables communities to understand, without external input,the impacts of climate change on everyday life and enables them toimagine life without coal. However, I sensed that young peopledeveloped anticoal sentiments only when they realised that jobopportunities in the colliery mine are thin. That said, there was ashared view among residents that they can live off the land as theyhave in the past and that this is more sustainable than working forthe mine.