Mining companies are homing in on diamond-rich land under restitution claims in the Northern Cape, fragmenting the recipient communities into warring factions.
Sugar Ramakarane, regional land claims commissioner in the Northern Cape and Free State, said the community of Schmidtsdrift, near Kimberley, had broken into seven factions over which company should partner them in mining the diamonds.
Ramakarane said that when a community recovered diamond-rich land, the mineral rights were still vested in the government. Mining companies could then apply for a licence to mine, if the community accepted them as strategic partners.
”Mining houses or individuals approach different members of the claimant group, promising them heaven and Earth if they take them as the community’s strategic partners,” he said. ”Each business targets a different individual and, in the end, you have a community at war with itself.”
Ramakarane said the conflicts had become so fierce that the land claims commission had asked the Department of Minerals and Energy to inform it whenever an application was received to mine land under claim.
In Bucklands, near Barkley West, police are investigating a fraud case flowing from tensions in the community and promises made by mining groups. Ramakarane refused to name the companies in question, but said they included well-known mining houses based in Johannesburg. Others were charlatans hoping to dupe gullible rural people.
However, the commission itself stands accused of choosing sides in certain land claims and only dealing with claimants who dance to its tune.
Joe Fletcher, secretary of the committee laying claim to the farm, Sydney on Vaal, near Kimberley, said the land claims commission had tried to force certain claimants into executive positions to ensure the appointment of specific companies as business partners. The companies generally had ties with high-ranking Northern Cape politicians.
Fletcher said the commission was ignoring Sydney on Vaal’s elected leader, Joseph Pholoholo, instead recognising John Riddels as chair- person of the Sydney on Vaal Forum. He also alleged negotiations for mining rights had been taking place behind the claimants’ backs.
Sydney on Vaal claimants are already distrustful of the government. In 1995 they handed their claim to the then-agriculture minister of the Northern Cape, Thabo Makwenya, because the land claims commission was not yet operating.
Fletcher said the claim was never registered and a portion of the claimed land was sold to an overseas mining company, Guildford, in 1997, to the community’s horror. They re-registered their claim in 1997 and are still waiting for it to be settled.
Sydney on Vaal currently belongs to Guildford and the Vaalbos National Park. While SANParks has agreed to give it to the community, Guildford is opposing the claim and has taken it to the Land Court. Guildford also has the rights to mine the land for diamonds.
At Schmidtsdrift, many claimants were infuriated when they learned that their new communal property association had signed a contract with New Diamond Corporation allowing the company to mine for 23 years. They claim the deal was done behind their backs.
Ramakarane said that in polarised communities, whoever was elected to represent the claimants faced opposition from splinter groups.
”We say to the complainants, if you feel that the elections were held fraudulently, please lay charges against the parties so that we can act,” he said.
”Then we can go back to the minutes, look at how many people voted and what happened, and determine if anything went wrong.