Stefaans Brmmer
The Mmakau villagers first knew there was trouble 18 months ago when the baboons came down from the hills. Little could they have known that the primates were harbingers of a saga that would split the community and draw in controversial granite magnate Fred Keeley, relatives of Minister of Public Enterprises Jeff Radebe – and the minister himself.
It was Keeley’s dynamite blasting that drove the baboons from the rust-coloured hills towering over Mmakau, the sprawling village north-west of Pretoria which is home to 50E000-plus Bakgatla ba Mmakau.
In a letter last year their chief, SPB Motsepe, talks about the “utter confusion” prevailing in the community because of Keeley’s pursuit of granite in their mountain. “No law. No order,” he complains.
Ironically, it was Chief Motsepe who let Keeley in when he signed a letter in 1998 blessing Keeley’s operations on the tribal lands. He had no right to do this without consulting his subjects, but the letter persuaded the Department of Minerals and Energy to issue a prospecting permit in July that year.
In terms of the permit Keeley could quarry 30m3 of granite. But a consulting geologist’s report estimates that by May last year more than 50E000m3 of material had been removed. “It therefore appears that the permission to remove 30m3 of granite blocks has been substantially exceeded,” the report concludes. Clearly, Keeley was conducting full-scale mining. He is still mining, still without a mining permit. He had not responded to faxed questions at the time of going to press.
The hills Keeley started dismantling in 1998 house unique rock paintings, an outcrop with “crying stones” you can play like a xylophone, and archaeological artefacts dating from the 17th century.
Mining legislation required of Keeley – a self-styled environmentalist – to do an environmental impact assessment before he could start mining. He complied, but archaeologist Johnny van Schalkwyk, who was subcontracted to work on the impact assessment, says an access road built by Keeley had already destroyed ancient wall ruins by the time his study started. Van Schalkwyk emphasises that Keeley did subsequently heed advice on how to ameliorate the mine’s impact.
The Bakgatla ba Mmakau have a long history in the area. They have occupied their land for over a century; several centuries in some versions. ABC Motsepe is Chief SPB Motsepe’s uncle, a direct descendant of legendary Chief Sjambok Motsepe, and chair of the community’s traditional Royal Council. “The land is ours,” he says, but adds that “if there is one mistake that God made, he forgot to give my grandfather a title deed”.
His concern is relevant: title to the land is formally held by the government and not the community, which means the Bakgatla ba Mmakau have less say when it comes to determining what a man like Keeley can or cannot do on their land.
ABC Motsepe recounts a proud history starting in the 16th century. When the Great Trek arrived in 1839, the Boers found the tribe in those granite hills, locked in combat with the armies of Mzilikazi. The Boers joined the tribe to drive Mzilikazi away. An uneasy alliance developed between Boer and Bakgatla, and in 1886 officials of the Zuid-Afrikaanse Republiek registered the Bakgatla land in the government’s name – in trust for the tribe.
More recently, the Bakgatla ba Mmakau have appealed to the Department of Land Affairs to have the title deed transferred to the community, in terms of land tenure reform policy. But the facilitating legislation, the Land Rights Bill, has languished unpassed by Parliament.
Last year the outraged community did, however, briefly force Keeley to stop mining with threats of an interdict. But the villagers are poor – about two-thirds are unemployed – and a general consensus in favour of mining developed, if only due to potential benefits such as a community hall they want built, rundown schools renovated, or the job creation potential if a processing plant could be sited nearby. At present fewer than 50 locals work on the mine, and standard wages are low at R1E160 a month.
But the community remains split over whether Keeley is the right candidate. On the one side is a grouping associated with the Tribal Council – recognised by law as the local authority – which started negotiating a lease agreement with Keeley and, in the interim, withdrew objections to his operations. Ranged against this group is the Royal Council – the traditional body headed by ABC Motsepe – which also favours mining but is implacably opposed to Keeley. Allegations of bribery and improper conduct are hurled across the divide.
Enter the Radebes: ABC Motsepe is the father of Bridget Radebe, who heads Mmakau Mining and is married to Minister Jeff Radebe. There are whispered allegations that Motsepe’s opposition to Keeley may be due less to principle and more to a potential opportunity for his daughter’s mining company. But Motsepe dismisses such claims: “I’ll never allow my daughter [to take over from Keeley]. That is sheer nepotism. I’m far above that.”
But there have been more rumblings about a visit both Radebes paid to the mine with Motsepe and royal councillors late last year. Anthony Chabangu, a leading proponent of negotiations with Keeley, was summoned to join the group. Chabangu says the minister did make anti-Keeley comments, but he did not feel intimidated as Radebe did not speak to him directly.
Others feel it was highly improper for a minister to involve himself in a matter where his own father-in-law is an active party to the dispute.
The minister and his father-in-law this week gave different explanations. Motsepe said Bridget Radebe had called Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs Thoko Didiza to inform her of the “mess”. Didiza asked that Minister Radebe investigate and report back to her.
Radebe replied through a representative: “Minister Radebe confirmed that some time last year he did make a personal visit, primarily to visit his father-in-law. During the visit problems regarding the granite mine were raised by a member of the clergy. He then advised all parties present that the matters were best addressed by the departments of minerals and energy, land affairs and environment affairs. He never attempted to influence the process in one way or another.”
Whether or not Radebe did interfere, the Bakgatla ba Mmakau remain none the richer for the scars on their hills.
Three weeks ago striking miners disrupted a meeting where the community was supposed to sign a deal with Keeley that might have led to the construction of a community centre. So far, the only winners have been Keeley and his company.
Additional reporting by Donna Block and Heather Hogan