Deposed Bakwena ba Mogopa regent Emmanuel Segwagwa Mamogale will reassume his position at the helm of the platinum-rich tribe after successfully challenging last year’s decision by North West Premier Edna Molewa to relieve him of his duties.
Motlalepule Mathibedi, who had replaced Mamogale, recently signed a mining deal worth R1,9-billion with African Platinum (Afplats) on behalf of the tribe, but without consulting its members, said Lindelani Sikhitha, Mamogale’s lawyer.
Mamogale, who initially assumed regency of the tribe in November 2003, was unseated after a minority faction in the royal family accused him of maladministration and poor leadership, specifically in ”the handÂÂling of contracts relating to the exploitation of the tribe’s mineral rights”.
In reversing and setting aside Molewa’s ”grossly irregular” decision to remove Mamogale, Mmabatho High Court Judge President MKR Mogoeng argued last month that the appointment of a commission of inquiry was of critical importance to the case as the ”applicant was not charged with specific acts of misconduct” and was ”not afforded an opportunity to answer to even these generic allegations”.
Mogoeng also ordered Molewa, who was a joint respondent with Mathibedi, to pay the costs of Mamogale’s application, which, according to his attorney, are well over R150 000.
The judgement is a watershed in the platinum war. The mining charter has placed pressure on companies like Afplats to negotiate better terms with mineral-rich people like the Bakwena. This is causing tension.
The succession dispute, which arose in June last year, turned violent in November, when the royal homestead was torched by angry tribe members.
At the time Bakwena ba Mogopa spokesperson Lawrence Mashigo described Mathibedi as a lackey installed by Molewa and her associate, businessman Thapelo Elias Tshepe, both of whom allegedly have a vested interest in the clan’s mining deals.
Before Mamogale was deposed last year, the Bakwena had accused Tshepe of purporting to act in their interests while simultaneously consulting for Afplats, which was seeking a joint venture with the tribe.
When Mathibedi assumed the throne, the Bakwena were busy setting up a ”mining committee” to raise the funds needed to attain a 50% stake in the joint venture with Afplats. In the ensuing legal battle to reverse Molewa’s decision the tribe took a decision to delay the establishment of this committee.
But, amid the administrative chaos, a new mining committee emerged, led by Thabo Tselane, a businessman described by royal family member Radie Pooe as Tshepe’s ”confidant”.
According to Pooe, during Mathibedi’s reign, meetings were no longer held in the tribal capital of Bethanie, but in one of the sub-ÂÂvillages.
Pooe added that since Mathibedi had no mandate from the clan, she co-opted tribal structures such as the traditional council, which plays an administrative role, in order to legitimise meetings between the mining committee and the members of the tribe. According to Pooe, members of the premier’s office frequently attended such meetings and played an activist rather than observer role.
Pooe said a tribal meeting was held on October 14 in Makolokwe, near Bethanie, where Mathibedi, still wearing her regent’s hat despite having been deposed two days earlier, was part of a group that included the self-appointed mining committee, and which was ”encouraging” the tribe to accept the signed deal with Afplats, giving it only a 26% stake. Mathibedi claimed that the mining committee had been unable to raise the required funds to acquire a 50% stake in the joint venture.
”Members of the Bakwena were not allowed to question representatives of the premier’s office, who were actively encouraging the tribe to settle,” said Pooe.
”We suspect that the [remaining] 24% will be shared among all these forces … who are probably hiding behind Afplats. It is hard to believe that for such a lucrative project there would be no funders willing to put in 50%. I mean, we’re talking platinum here.”
Pooe says the way the meeting was conducted was suspicious. ”One could say it was illegal because, according to tribal procedures, it is the chief alone who can convene a community meeting, and Mamogale was not even aware of the meeting.”
According to Sikhitha, Afplats acted in bad faith by continuing to negotiate with self-appointed tribal representatives, despite having received communications from him in April and June asking it to cease all mining-related negotiations pending the application to have Mathibedi unseated.
Afplats CEO Roy Pitchford refused to comment on the issue, saying his dealings with the Bakwena were confidential.
Tshepe also refused to comment, saying he had nothing to do with the Bakwena and their mining issues. Tselane would not answer any questions about the mining committee.
The cast of characters
- Emmanuel Segwagwa Mamogale: younger brother of the former chief, Lethlogile Mamogale.
- Edna Molewa: North West premier, who was deemed by the Mmabatho High Court judge president to have acted in a ”grossly irregular” manner by removing Mamogale from his seat in October last year.
- Motlalepule Mathibedi: a sibling of Lethlogile Mamogale, who was placed on the throne by Molewa late last year.
- Lindelani Sikhitha: an attorney representing Emmanuel Segwagwa Mamogale.
- Lawrence Mashigo: spokesperson of the Bakwena ba Mogopa.
- Thapelo Elias Tshepe: an entrepreneur accused of interfering in the succession dispute to further his own business interests.
- Thabo Tselane: a businessman known to be Tshepe’s ”confidant”. A driving force in the dubiously formed mining committee.
- Radi Pooe: a royal family member who has watched the saga unfold from day one.
- Roy Pitchford: CEO of Afplats, who continued negotiating with the Bakwena knowing that the tribe was embroiled in a succession squabble.