A new study by university researchers reveals families relocated due to the Tendele coal mine in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, have received compensation amounting to less than 5% of their actual losses. The research highlights significant failings in adequately compensating individuals displaced to facilitate large-scale coal mining operations. These communities were forced to leave their homes and land, yet the financial redress offered has proven grossly insufficient. The study raises concerns about fairness and justice in the process of resettlement connected to the Tendele coal mine. It underscores the disparity between the value of what families have lost—homes, land, livelihoods—and the compensation they have received. This situation poses crucial questions about the protection of land rights and equitable treatment in the context of resource extraction in KwaZulu-Natal. The findings call for a reassessment of current compensation practices to ensure they genuinely reflect the losses experienced by those displaced by mining ventures.