An expert witness in the Richtersveld land claim on Thursday added more than R100-million to the estimated cost of rehabilitation of land ravaged by Alexkor’s diamond mining.
Environmental consultant Tony Barbour told the Land Claims Court in Cape Town there was an error in the figure he gave the court earlier on the cost of restoring the land to near-pristine condition.
The cost of putting a 0,65m topsoil cap on the myriad prospecting trenches that scar the area had been left out of the calculations, and it should be revised upward from R1,068-billion.
The so-called restoration option is one of three that have been presented to the court, and is the most expensive of the three.
The hearing resumed in Cape Town on Thursday after a three-day on-site inspection of the mining area, of the Ramsar wetland at the mouth of the Gariep (Orange) River, which is also part of the claim, and farms that the state is offering the community.
The Richtersvelders are claiming the return of more than 84 000ha of land in a strip down the coast from the river mouth, and up to R2,5-billion in compensation.
Barbour was cross-examined closely by advocate Marius Oosthuizen, acting for the state, which is opposing the claim, on the report he drew up on the rehabilitation possibilities.
Oosthuizen put it to Barbour that given the limited time and finances available to him, his focus had been on options for costing, and not so much on a precise quantification.
Barbour said there was a ”variance”, but said his estimates were ”within 20% either side”.
The hearing started a quarter of an hour later than scheduled after the lunch recess.
Judge Antonie Gildenhuys apologised to the assembled legal teams, saying his assessor, Professor Marinus Wiechers, had come back separately, and security officials at the venue of the hearing, the Cape High Court, would not let him in.
”Eventually we managed to trace him, and he’s safely with us,” he said with a grin. — Sapa