Bridgette Radebe, a mining magnate and the wife of Minister of Public Enterprises Jeff Radebe, is embroiled in a mining rights dispute in Mmakau village in the North West province.
The village, outside Garankuwa, is home to Radebe’s clan, the Motsepes.
Pat Motsepe, chairperson of the tribal council and brother of the chief, Peter Motsepe, says a company called Sperrlyte, whose name was later changed to Cluss Mining, bid for the prospecting rights on Hoekfontein farm in April 2000. The property has platinum deposits.
Motsepe later established that Radebe was involved in the company.
The company made a verbal offer to share 10% of the profits with the community, but failed to undertake to carry the costs incurred in prospecting.
Motsepe says the company also refused to disclose its financial performance and position. Motsepe acknowledges that sections of the community, including local coun- cillors, support Cluss Mining’s bid, but he described these as “small elements who make noise”.
A competing bid was submitted by Canamafrica Platinum Corporation, a Canadian company headed by mining investor Peter Hooper.
His empowerment partners are budding mining entrepreneurs Oupa Koapeng and Florah Matjila.
Speaking to the Mail & Guardian ahead of his departure for Canada two weeks ago, Hooper described his relationship with Radebe as cordial. In a dossier on the saga he detailed a series of events that had led to what he perceives as an unfortunate fallout.
He acknowledged that Radebe assisted him in his early days on the South African mining scene, helping him review his applications and giving advice.
“She did, however, not want [a] joint venture with us nor did she ever guide us or help us find property,” he said.
In November last year he and his partners were summoned to the offices of investment agency Invest North West in Rustenburg. They were shown the property and told there was one, unsatisfactory application and advised to apply. They offered to share with the community 25% of the profits and undertook to carry all costs incurred during prospecting. They lodged their application on December 6 last year.
What followed was a frustrating waiting process. First, the applicants were told their application was lost. After resubmitting, they were told the form was incorrectly completed. Finally, the applicants were told that their application would not be considered, as there was already another.
This sparked a series of complaints directly to Minister of Mineral and Energy Affairs Phumzile Mlambo Ngcuka.
Canamafrica finally got a hearing at the mining indaba held in Cape Town three weeks ago.
Mineral and Energy Affairs director general Sandile Nogxina overruled the decision to refuse the application on the grounds that there was another application being considered.
Hooper said Nogxina undertook to “break protocol and look at both applications and would let us know within 10 days whether our application was being considered”.
The 10 days elapsed on Monday. Koapeng said they have not heard from the director general.
Departmental spokesperson Kanyo Gqulu confirmed the meeting, at which he was a participant. He said that additional information was required for the application.
Gqulu said the group used a meeting intended to hear a complaing about the procedure for applications to have its application reviewed and responded to.
“First of all, we do not give a hearing to one party to the exclusion of another,” Gqulu said, warning the group that “if they think that by hassling the director general or using the media they will get the licence then that will not happen”.
Gqulu also denied that the director general undertook to respond in 10 days. He said that the director general only undertook to look at both applications and follow the standard procedure of responding to all applicants in writing. This usually takes up to a month.
At the indaba Hooper said he met Radebe, to whom he tried to explain that he had discovered her status as a competing bidder well into the application process. He said Radebe was livid and not prepared to listen.
He said Radebe told him that a meeting scheduled for February 22 “would be a waste of time and that the probable outcome would the chief losing his position”.
The purpose of the meeting was to pass a tribal resolution granting Canamafrica approval to prospect the area. However, there was apparently a plan by people who opposed the decision to disrupt the meeting.
Motsepe says the protesters were bused in, but on being questioned it transpired that they were brought in under false pretences and instead ended up being part of the meeting and endorsing the decision.
Radebe is currently in New York and did not respond to questions faxed to her there.
Carl Kekana, calling from her office, undertook to answer at least some of the questions put to her by the M&G.
However, he had failed to respond by the time of going to press.